Twitter War
by SMchick
Summary: Started as a one-shot with Sam & Andy bickering over tech & food choices on patrol. Morphed into a love story & an AU scenario where Sam was doing more than pining for Andy after his return to uniform. Good Dov & Traci stuff too. M for sexual slang & some swearing in late Chs. The sex isn't too explicit
1. Chapter 1: 'Sushi'

**Twitter War**

**Author's Note: **

I love the scenes of Sam and Andy in the car. So I decided to write a little fic where they bicker over twitter and going to lunch at gourmet food trucks. I don't know if the food truck thing has become a trend in Toronto, but it's huge in the LA area and in NYC. Many of them tweet their locations each day. Ben's real life resistance to twitter gave me the idea for a little battle between the two characters over lunch breaks.

I gave it a M rating only for one relatively mild bit of sexual innuendo. I'm probably being overly cautious, but I'm not sure it's right for young teens.

_I have no rights to Rookie Blue or any of the fantastic characters the real talent created._

**Chapter 1: 'Sushi'  
**

"McNally, are you really going to keep that up all day?" Sam asked impatiently.

"What?" Andy looked up from her brand new iPhone in surprise. "I haven't been playing with it that much. You should be happy. You're the one always complaining that I talk too much," she pointed out.

"Your chatter may have started to grow on me a little," Sam admitted grudgingly. "Besides, it's even worse to spend a slow morning listening to you giggle and mutter under your breath about something when I'm out of the loop. How can you be so hooked on texting like some middle schooler anyway?" he complained.

"Not texting. Tweeting," she corrected.

"What the hell's the difference?" Sam asked baffled.

"It's kind of hard to explain to someone as tech-challenged as you," she teased. "But twitter is very addictive. If you weren't so scared to try it, I bet even you would get hooked before you knew it." Andy predicted.

Sam made a scoffing sound, "Not likely, McNally. I like to actually look someone in the eye or at least hear a voice when I'm communicating."

"Hah! You don't like communicating at all very much," she shot back.

"Just because I'm not as much of a Chatty Kathy as you doesn't mean I don't like to communicate. You're the one who's an outlier. And didn't I just say it bugged me to have your head buried in your phone gossip when I'm driving with you?" he shot back.

"What makes you think I've been gossiping?" she asked. "For your information, you can use twitter for lots of useful things other than gossip."

"Name one," Sam challenged.

"Well, hmm… OK. I know. I can use it to figure out where that Asian fusion food truck I've been asking you to try is today. You still haven't made good on your promise to eat there with me for lunch after I got my tie cut. Now that I have my new phone, I can check the truck's twitter feed. Hah! It's only a few blocks away for the next few hours." she said with a triumphant grin. "Are you finally going to follow through?"

Sam groaned, "You would define useful as using that thing to back me in a corner. Are you really going to make me eat at a mobile germ factory?" he wrinkled his nose.

Andy just laughed, "Don't be such a fogey. Food trucks have gone upscale these days. They're as clean as any restaurant. Probably a lot cleaner than some of the old diners that are your favorite hangouts. How many times have I tried to tell you this? Trust me, if you would get with the times and try something new for once, you'd see what you've been missing."

"So I'm an old fogey now just because I don't want to do the twitter or eat nouveau food that probably comes in portions that would only satisfy someone your size, while having to stand or search around for a park bench for the so-called pleasure of eating it?" replied an offended Sam.

"You don't 'do the twitter' you tweet. And you're the one who said old, not me. Don't be so sensitive. If you would break out of your comfort zone, you might find out none of that is true. Besides, we've had so few calls, I'm tired of sitting. Plus, it's nice out, and eating outside will let us keep an eye on the street while we eat." she wheedled.

"OK, OK. I give in. You're relentless," Sam caved. "It's lunch time now. We might as well get it over with. Where is it parked?"

"West Adams," she said.

Sam pulled the car over. "So show me what this twitter thing looks like."

Andy leaned over showed him the basics. "Here's the timeline I was checking. It shows tweets from the tweeps you follow," she started.

"Tweets from tweeps? What's with the goofy lingo? You're not exactly making a great case for this," Sam mocked.

Andy laughed, "Sorry. Tweeps are people, or 'peeps,' on twitter. Twitter peeps. Tweeps," she explained patiently. "But never mind that. If you want to send a message, you type anything up to 140 characters in this little box. Just like a short text or email."

"Here, since you're being a good sport, you can try it. Send a message using my account," she said, handing him her iPhone.

"OK. I'll send a pre-emptive SOS in case this food kills me," he said before giving it a try. Sam struggled with the touch screen, and had Andy doubled over with giggles at his curses over the autocorrect function.

"Your laughing at me is not helping me enjoy this more, you know. This thing can't be designed for a guy's fingers," he muttered.

"I'm sorry. But I don't think that's it. Dov never seems to have a problem. Maybe the Casanova hand thing makes you clumsier?" she theorized.

"What the hell are you talking about, McNally?" Sam asked, totally confused.

"Here, give me your hand, and I'll show you," she said. When Sam complied, she continued. "You have a really pronounced case of it. See how much longer your ring finger is than your index finger?"

"Huh, I never noticed that. Isn't everyone's that way?" he asked.

"No. See, look at my hands. Mine are the reverse, with the index finger longer than the ring finger. It's that way for most women. Your pattern is caused by testosterone. It's called the 'Casanova pattern.' I'm surprised none of your girlfriends explained it." she said, looking up with a smile.

Their eyes met, and for a minute one of those elusive flare-ups of attraction took hold.

Andy dropped his hand and tried to break the tension, "Then again, it's also common with gay men, so maybe that's why none of them ever mentioned it," she teased awkwardly.

That snapped Sam out of it. "Well, I'll take Casanova over gay, that's for sure. And I'll show you clumsy. Let me just make a couple changes to this message, err tweet."

He determinedly finished in silence. "There!" he said with satisfaction, "Take a look," he turned the screen to face her with a wicked grin.

McNally: I finally got Sam to do lunch my way. He admits he loves my sushi…

Andy's jaw dropped. "You sent that? Without context, that tweet will seem like…"

"Exactly!" Sam grinned broadly.

"I can't believe you tweeted something so filthy! Give it back so I can delete it," Andy demanded, horrified.

"Nothing doing." Sam refused, yanking it out of her reach. "I'm holding on to this thing until I'm sure you're not killing me with this food choice of yours. Serves you right anyway. Gay, my ass," he laughed.

"Sam, half the Division is on twitter. By the time we're done eating, who knows how many will have read it!" She objected.

"Tough. You're the one who talked me into trying twitter. The only thing that really seems fun about it is making you squirm for a while," grinning even more broadly at how well his revenge was turning out. "Who knows, McNally, you might have cured my tech-phobia after all," he added before getting out of the squad car.

"Oh God, I've created a monster," Andy groaned rolling her eyes, resigned to letting him have his payback. "But you're going to feel bad once you have to admit this food is awesome and my forcing you to try it is a huge favor not a chore," she predicted, trying to recover her cockiness. "Plus, I can always create a fake twitter account for you and take my revenge," she threatened.

"You wouldn't! McNally…." Sam looked panicked for a minute, before recovering. "No one would ever believe I'm on twitter anyway. Right?" he added uncertainly.

He still looked so uncomfortable, And laughed and let him off the hook, "Relax. I actually want you to try it some day. I'll just have to think of some other way to get you back…"

~~~~~0~~~~~

**Note: **Ben Bass really does have the Casanova pattern to his fingers. It showed up very clearly in one of the photos from the set that Matty posted to twitter. So I had to work that into the story too.


	2. Chapter 2: Foodgasm

**Author's Note:**

I decided to expand this a little from a oneshot by adding two more chapters. This one covers how the lunch went and a little of the twitter storm kicked up by Sam's prank. The next will get into Andy's retaliation. I didn't specify in the opening note, but as you may have guessed, Sam and Andy aren't couple yet.

**Chapter 2: Foodgasm**

"Why don't your order for both of us, and I'll pay since it's your graduation treat," Sam suggested, eyeing the items on the Kogi menu warily.

Andy considered using this to take her revenge, but decided to put that off and order him what she thought he'd like best. She wanted to prove she was right more than she needed to get him back right away. What was that expression? 'Revenge is a dish best served cold.' Totally.

When they settled into seats next to the nearby fountain, Sam made a production of inspecting what she brought him suspiciously. But soon he was digging in with enthusiasm to the first of the three dishes she'd chosen for him, the Kimchi Quesadilla.

_Hah! I knew it_, Andy thought with satisfaction.

When Sam finally got to the Korean short rib taco, he let out a groan of sheer pleasure.

"Easy there, Sally. You're going to have all the people queuing up saying 'I'll have what he's having' if you don't watch it," Andy teased. "Are you ready to admit I was right yet?"

"Laugh all you want, Harry. This might be the best food I've ever had!" Sam said in amazement. "I can't believe something this amazing comes from that little food truck. I have to hand it to you, this was a great call," Sam enthused. "In fact, I'm going to go get some more,"

"More? Sam, I got you a ton of food so you wouldn't bitch about portions. You're going to have a stomach ache if you eat anything else," she warned with a laugh.

"I'll risk it," he jumped up and go back in line before she could talk him out of it.

Andy just shook her head and relished her victory with a smug smile.

When Sam finished, he groaned in pain this time. "You might have been right about overdoing it too, McNally. I think you're going to have to drive this afternoon," Sam said patting his overloaded stomach.

"Sweet!" Andy exclaimed. "I just hope we don't get any calls where we need to chase down perps. The way you pigged out on _my_ food discovery, I'll be the only one with any chance of keeping up," she teased.

Sam shrugged, "It's your fault. You're the one who knew how stellar the food was. You should have made your celebration pick a trip here after shift instead of for lunch."

"Yeah, whatever. Just give me the keys, fatty," Andy rolled her eyes at him.

"Fatty? One day of pigging out isn't gonna ruin my six-pack," Sam sniffed. "We might have to ration how often we come back though. It's dangerous," he conceded.

"Well, as much as you like to flash those abs, I'm sure you won't be sporting a paunch any time soon," she shot him a sidelong glance.

"Aren't you the queen of backhanded compliments? I don't know whether to be more flattered that you think they'll hold up or insulted that you turned ONE time when you were the one who barged into the locker room into making me sound like one of those Jersey Shore idiots,"

"Don't over think it, Sam," Andy grinned unrepentantly before turning to head out.

When they got to the squad car, Andy couldn't resist taking advantage of having control of the keys, relocking his door just as he reached for the handle, "Uh, uh. First, let me hear you say 'McNally, I admit you have superior taste' " Andy prodded.

"McNally, I will never again question your taste in food," Sam said instantly, conceding the point while refusing to say the exact words.

Andy laughed, "OK, close enough."

As they resumed cruising the area, Sam pulled out her iPhone to check on responses to his earlier prank and try to regain the upper hand poking fun at Andy.

He saw that members of the Division had definitely gone nuts reacting to it. Every so often he laughed or made choking sounds.

"Was your stomach really bothering you, or did you just let me drive so you could play with my phone?" Andy said suspiciously.

"The phone I couldn't care less about. But I have to admit some of the stuff coming out of the other morons from Fifteen who have gotten sucked into twitter are pretty entertaining," he grinned.

"Oh God! How could I forget about that? What are people saying?" she asked.

"Well, this has gone viral with craziness, but here are a few examples." Sam said.

Traci: Girl, you better look up sushi on urbandictionary and rethink that last tweet

Diaz: What's urban dictionary?

Traci: How long have you lived in Toronto, choir boy? You probably need to look up sushi too ;)

Dov: Chris, it's a website to tell you what slang means. Like 'sushi' is something you've only visited with two girls

Shaw: Hey, Epstein, only I get to heckle Diaz about his no comparison shopping policy

Diaz: Umm. Andy, isn't it against the rules to be doing that on patrol?

Traci: They didn't actually do anything, Mr Manual. She didn't know what she was saying

Traci: Right, Andy?

Peck: Well, she's not answering, so you never know…LOL

Dov: Yes! I knew you were Rock 'n Roll, McNally

"Oh, and here's my favorite," Sam broke off to editorialize.

Traci: Andy, seriously, you're starting to worry me. You didn't really mean that you took Swarek off ice, did you?

"Care to explain that one?" Sam drawled with a raised eyebrow.

Andy blushed and made a choking sound before pulling over the car.

"OK, you've had enough fun. Give me my phone back so I can fix the mess your little prank caused," Andy demanded.

"Explain 'on ice' first," Sam insisted.

Andy sighed, "It's no big deal. I just spilled the beans to her about what happened during the blackout one night when she was over and we'd had too much to drink. Putting you on ice was her advice, complete with the genius move of making me write your name on a post-it and dunk it in a jar of water she stuck in my freezer. Then she hounded me into trying to be Luke's girlfriend-of-the-year. So I tried to make him dinner the next night, and he ended up finding it. That's how our first fight about you started."

"Hmm. _First_ fight over me, huh?" Sam asked.

"Just drop it. It doesn't matter anymore. It's not like there wasn't a lot of reasons we broke up," Andy said in a tone that let Sam knew she wasn't up for further discussion.

"Fine," Sam let it slide.

"What a mess. Don't think I'm not still getting you back for this, Sam. My win at lunch wasn't nearly enough payback…"

"Hey, it's not as bad as you think. At least Williams has a clue," Sam soothed, handing her back the phone.

Noelle: Will you morons get a life? I'll bet $100 that came from Sammy, not McNally Leave McSwarek alone!

Dov: Chill, Noelle. 'McSwarek' isn't exactly picked on like Britney. They've kept us waiting long enough for the action we all know is coming :(

Andy sneaked a glance at Sam, wondering if he'd seen that last one from Dov before handing over the phone.


	3. Chapter 3: Extracting Revenge

**Chapter 3: Extracting Revenge **

"Sam, you are definitely going with me to the Penny to put out this fire," Andy insisted.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. You think I'd abandon the other half of _McSwarek_?" Sam grinned.

Andy shot him a nervous glance, but didn't reply. She ducked into the ladies' locker room to change instead.

When she emerged, neither could quite get a read on the other's mood. So they made the drive in silence, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

"So, did you tweet a retraction?" Sam asked as the entered the bar.

"No, Sam. I like to look people in the eyes and hear their voices when I communicate to them what an idiot you are," she teased.

"Touche. This should be interesting then," he said amiably.

As they walked in, the bar erupted into a pandemonium of wolf whistles, applause, and catcalls. Andy hadn't seen the place this rowdy since their first night with the rookie handcuff hazing.

When they'd managed to make their way to the center of the room, Andy used an official whistle to cut through the roar so she could make an announcement.

"Sorry to disappoint all you gullible pervs, but that little stunt that had you all atwitter today was just my bonehead partner playing around with my new iPhone. Lunch 'my style' was actually a trip to the Kogi food truck. Which after much foot dragging, my stubborn partner LOVED, by the way," Andy set the record straight.

The room started to hum with low disappointed grumbles, mixed with a few chuckles.

"Haha! Toldja, suckers!" Noelle said with a big grin.

"Way to be a buzz kill, McNally," Dov grumbled.

"Yup, a tiny bit of laughing at how mad the auto-correct was making him was enough for him come up with that hilarious little prank. Or MAYBE that's his version of pulling my pigtails," she smirked.

"Ooh," the crowd reacted, surprised to hear Andy call out Sam that way.

"Anyway, to make up for punking everyone, **first round of shots is on Swarek**!" she screamed.

The room erupted in cheers again.

Andy turned to Sam, raising an eyebrow challenging him to confirm the offer.

"Alright, alright. Not that I owe you clowns anything, but McNally deserves her retaliation," he agreed.

_**SAMMY! **_the crowd called with approval.

After they'd done their shots with all their close friends gathered around, it was Sam's turn to ham it up a bit. "Well done, McNally," Sam making a mock gesture as if she'd shanked him in the heart. "I wonder what this is gonna cost me?"

Andy shrugged a shoulder, "Break out your plastic. You should have thought of that before you used my twitter account to telegraph what goes on in your dreams, Swarek," she said with a wink.

"Oh, ho! Getting a little cocky, aren't you McNally?" Sam shot back.

Andy shrugged, then launched into a parody of the Sandra Bullock sing song bit from Miss Congeniality: "You think I'm gorgeous... You want to kiss me… You want to hug me… You think I'm sexy…"

"OK, Gracie Lou Freebush." he mocked. "You nailed me," he added sarcastically.

"Except for one thing. I don't WANT to kiss you," he paused, a wicked twinkle in his eyes.

"I'm GOING TO kiss you," he declared, before sweeping her into a big dramatic embrace and giving her the kind of kiss he knew the crowd would applaud. Which they did, strenuously.

"What do you say, McNally? Shall we get out of here now, and give these coppers something to really twitter about tomorrow?" Sam challenged when he finally pulled back.

All Andy could manage was to cling on to him and nod.

Sam laughed, "If I'd known that was the best way to leave you speechless, I would have kissed you sooner," he said, flashing the dimples to keep from ruining his play by pissing her off.

Fortunately, Andy was a major sucker for those dimples and allowed him to shepherd her toward the door.

But she did recover enough to manage one last tease, "I can't believe you pulled out that Gracie Lou Freebush reference. I _really_ wouldn't have pegged you as a fan of a movie like Miss Congeniality."

"It's a memorable name," he shrugged. "And I've always had a thing for hot brunette law enforcement types," he added as they exited the bar.

"I hope you're not saying that Beavis and Butthead-style prank really was your idea of flirting?" she asked as they approached his truck.

Sam shrugged again, before saying sheepishly, "It started a conversation, didn't it? And it appears to be working OK so far with the only woman I care about."

Andy shook her head at him, "It's a good thing you have such a hot body, because you could use a little work on your seduction technique," she teased.

"There's a difference between flirting and a serious seduction attempt, McNally. But, now that I know you might be receptive, I'm all ears to hear what sort of thing you would consider to be an upgrade in that department," he drawled, pulling her into his arms. "I can do candles and flowers and the whole nine yards if that's what floats your boat," he said nuzzling her neck.

"I think I've been an expensive enough date for tonight to let you off the hook for that sort of thing," she murmured. "Although, if I recall, your house is rather romantic by candlelight," she added.

"Well, let's go see if we can't put them to better use this time," Sam pulled back to smile down at her before opening the door of his truck for her. "Jump in the chariot, M'Lady."

She gave him a long look.

"What? I'm not making fun of you. I swear," he protested. "Who's the sensitive one now?"

~~~~0~~~~

**AN: Possible spoiler alert:** You may want to think twice about reading further if you haven't seen all the episodes of season 1 yet. I make up a lot of alternative events, but there are also references to things that really happened in season 1 episodes peppered throughout the rest of the story.


	4. Chapter 4: Curling Her Toes

**Author's Note:**

Thanks to those who have taken time to review. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I'm always nervous whether humor or sex scenes will come off OK.

Despite the chapter title and M rating, I decided to write their time back at Sam's as more romantic than explicit. I also ended up painting a more idealized, female-fantasy version of Sam. I laid it on pretty thick, but hopefully it's not way too over-the-top. Enjoy!

**Chapter 4: Curling Her Toes**

Sam linked his fingers through hers as he led her to the front door. When they reached the main living area, he watched her gaze take in the surroundings she had been oblivious to the first time.

"Let me give you the grand tour," Sam said. "You probably didn't notice, but some rooms were in the middle of a renovation last time you were here," Sam offered casually.

"Sounds great," she smiled back at him. "This is really charming and cozy," she added, somewhat surprised at the lack of an obvious bachelor pad vibe in the uncluttered but warm and tasteful decor.

"Don't sound so surprised," Sam laughed. "Although, I have to admit I got some help from Sarah when I first bought the place."

"Well, someone has a good eye. It's inviting, and everything fits perfectly with historic architecture of this place." she said with genuine admiration.

"Actually, I didn't do much out here, except open up the kitchen to the living area. It's probably the most bachelor-esque part of the house, with the oversized flat screen. But Sarah tells me the fireplace redeems it."

He led her down the hall to the remaining first floor rooms. One was an office that connected to a glassed-in sun room facing the back yard. Andy was surprised how many bookcases lined the walls, none containing books on tape. Sam was more of a reader than she would have guessed.

"Did you change this?" she asked.

"Only to change that back room from a screen porch to a proper room that can be used year around," he replied.

"The main thing I changed down here was to add a half bath and to get rid of one small bedroom to make a master suite more like what you find in newer houses. Adding a walk-in closet and expanding the bath. See what you think," he motioned her that it was OK to take a look at his personal space.

"Oh, Sam," she gasped. "This is… It's beautiful, like something from a spa or a magazine," she looked at him, eyes alight with pleasure.

"Come check out the rooms upstairs," he urged. "I'm curious which you'll like better."

Sam led her up the staircase. "I redid the bath that the two guest rooms up here share as well."

Andy gazed into another huge, but very different bath. Instead of the sleek bath with modern fixtures, Jacuzzi tub, and large stall shower downstairs, this one was dominated by an enormous, gorgeous claw foot tub and matching pedestal sink. The tub fixtures attached to the wall and were positioned to the side, making it obviously well-designed for two. She noted there were just as many candles up here as she'd seen in the master suite below and wondered if Sam had used both with Monica. The thought made her cringe involuntarily.

"Downstairs it is then," Sam said.

"What?" Andy asked, startled.

"I took that cringe to mean you prefer the modern option," Sam smiled.

"No, this is stunning too. I just didn't expect you to spend this kind of time and effort on TWO utterly romantic bathrooms," Andy said. "I was just thinking they seem to be designed to be shared," Andy looked down before adding softly, "Monica must have been in heaven."

Sam stepped closer and raised her chin so she had to meet his eyes. "I did design them with every intention of sharing them, but Monica is not the woman I had in mind. She's never even seen them."

"Oh," And said, the look in his eyes making her knees go almost as weak as when he'd kissed her at the Penny.

"After you dragged me over to work on the plumbing for Bennie's mom, I decided that one way or another I was eventually going to convince you to move in some day after you finally got that Ken Doll Callaghan out of your system. I wanted this place to be worthy of you," he added softly.

"Seriously? Sam…," Andy teared up. "I don't know what to say. You really went to all this effort with me in mind when I was still dating Luke? It must have taken your life's savings…" Andy's legs really did fail, and she sank onto the toilet, taking the news in.

"Fortunately, I didn't need to do that. You remember Rubin, the owner of that fancy Italian restaurant who I asked to look after Emily?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, what's he got to do with it?" Andy asked, baffled.

"He's a friend from high school He also used to be an addict. He was the one who set me up with street contacts when I went under cover. He OD'd while I was under, and I risked my cover to get him clean. Between that and feeling bad about blowing my case against Hill by letting Emily give him the slip, he insisted on fixing me up with some contracting buddies who owed him favors. I ended up getting all this done for almost nothing, a far better deal than I wanted to accept," Sam smiled down at her.

He reached down to pull her up into his arms, "I may be crazy about you, but I haven't completely lost my mind." He added with a teasing smile, "But in case you were wondering, _this_ is what serious seduction attempt from me looks like."

"You had me at _'Let me give you the grand tour'_ " Andy said with a smile that turned into a half-laugh/half-sob. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss to rival the one he'd initiated at the Penny.

Sam finally broke off the kiss, "Listen, Andy, I think we should slow this train down. But I have a proposal for you. How about if we christen this tub? I'll give you the foot rub of your life, and then you can decide whether you want to sleep over or I'll drive you home."

Andy gave him a confused look, struggling to clear her fogged head and take in what he was saying, "Wait, what are you saying? You want to take a bath and then not…"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting." He laughed at the look on her face. "Don't look like a kid who's been denied candy."

"I don't understand. You don't want to…"

"Yes, I want to. But not tonight," he replied.

At Andy's frown, he continued, "Trust me on this. I've been paying close attention for a while, Andy, and I've seen your tendency to jump into things and then second-guess yourself. I want this seduction to unfold at the right pace. OK?"

"O-kay, I guess. But I think you're taking my earlier teasing too much to heart" she said reluctantly.

"Please, Andy. I want a relationship where we're full partners. But, for just a while, can you let me take the lead in how this dance between us unfolds? Can you trust me that this is the right thing for us?" he asked.

"I guess I can agree to that," she agreed.

"Good. So, run the water and pick which bubble bath you want while I fire up a few of these candles. I'll run down and get us drinks while you slip in the water. Wine? Beer?" Sam asked.

"Better make it beer since I started with a shot earlier," she said.

When Sam returned, the look in his eyes told her she had no reason to doubt he wanted her. "It lives up to all expectations with you in it," Sam said huskily, handing her a beer, before lightening things up again.

"Alright, no peeking while I join you, McNally," Sam teased. "I wouldn't' want to be accused again of being too eager to flash my abs or anything."

Andy laughed. "That stung a little, did it?"

"Naw, I take the not over thinking a compliment thing seriously. Besides, I know you'll peek anyway when we get out and I'm not looking," he grinned.

"Are you saying I don't listen to you?" Andy teased back.

"I'm saying you know me well enough now to know which of my requests are important and which I don't really care if you follow or not," he said.

"Uh-huh. So, you're saying it's OK with you if I peek after all?" she asked.

Sam shrugged as he settle in opposite her, "As long as you can control your urge to jump my bones," he grinned.

Andy splashed him, "Who's the cocky one now?" she protested with a snort.

Sam grabbed her foot, "You haven't felt the power of my Casanova hands yet, McNally. When I'm through with your lovely feet, you'll be begging me to alter the rules of the game," he winked.

"Hmm, you better make this one hell of a foot massage now, if you're going to talk smack like that, Swarek," she sniffed.

"With pleasure, McNally, with utmost pleasure," Sam drawled.

_Damn, the man knew how to work the voice, dimples, and hands when he wanted. His teasing might be closer to the truth than he realizes, _Andy thought, settling back with a sigh signaling the pleasure was all hers.

~~~~~0~~~~~~

After they had an incredibly sexy, not-quite-foreplay interlude, enjoying getting to know each other better with flirtation that had taken on a whole new tenor, Andy shivered as the water cooled.

Sam notice immediately, and levered himself out of the tub.

He wrapped a towel around himself and grabbed another big bath sheet for Andy.

"You definitely peeked," he smirked as he turned and extended her the towel. She rolled her eyes at him as she reached for it.

Sam pulled it back, "Uh, uh. Not until you say _'Sam, I will never question your seduction technique again.'_ " he demanded, echoing their earlier banter.

"Sam, I concede the superiority of your seduction techniques," she shot back immediately, echoing his earlier stubborn refusal to repeat verbatim.

Sam threw back his head and laughed appreciatively.

Wrapping her towel firmly around herself, she stepped out of the tub and said sincerely, "Your romantic instincts really _are_ superior. I couldn't have dreamed anything as perfect as all of this," she said stretching up to kiss him on the cheek.

As she pulled back, she gave him a impish look under her lashes, "But never is a long time. How do I know you won't be back to 'sushi' jokes in a week?" she teased.

"You don't," Sam replied, an evil grin breaking over his face. "I might pull pigtails too," he added as he moved quickly to jerk her towel off before winking at her and walking out of the room.

Andy squealed with surprise before calling after him, "Hah! I knew you'd find a way to be the biggest peeker!"

His rumbling laughter drifted back to her as she happily retrieved the towel.

~~~~0~~~~

**AN:** Hope I didn't veer too much into Mr Big/Carrie Bradshaw territory with the whole Sam remodeling bathrooms and closets to win over Andy thing. But I figure he's more of a do than say kind of guy when it comes to competing with Luke. I also figured that he'd benefit from personal relationships to get a nicer place on a cop's salary rather than being a vulture watching for properties that are cheap because of gruesome murders like Luke does.


	5. Chapter 5: Gossip Mill Fallout

**Author's Note:**

Thanks again to all who review. I think this is going to be the end, unless some unexpected brainstorm hits. Enjoy!

**Chapter 5: The Gossip Mill Fallout**

Andy had just changed into one of Sam's T-shirts and snuggled into one of the guest beds when her iPhone rang.

Her puzzled frown turned into a chuckle when she saw Sam's name on the screen.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Do you miss me yet?" he asked.

"Yes. Have you changed you mind or something?" she asked with a smile.

"No, I just wanted to hear your voice one more time," he replied.

Andy chuckled, "Are you _sure _this isn't a booty call?" she teased.

"I'm not drunk enough for that, and you can't break me that easily, McNally," he teased back. "What you're doing up there?" Sam asked.

"I just crawled into your nice, comfy guest bed. What do you think I'm doing?" she rolled her eyes.

"Can I make another sushi joke yet?" he asked.

Andy choked out a scandalized laugh, "Did you just ask me if I'm masturbating? What happened to that romantic guy I just spent the evening with? I guess I gave you too much credit when I said I wasn't sure it would last a week," she joked.

"Having a romantic side doesn't mean turning into a choir boy, McNally. Anyway, you're the one who said that's what my dreams revolve around. You can't blame a guy for trying to summon a little inspiration to kick off a good night's sleep," he countered.

She chuckled, "I think you're on your own there."

Sam gave an exaggerated sigh, "Ah well. Fortunately, I have a vivid imagination when it comes to you. Sleep well, gorgeous," he said softly.

"Sleep well, handsome," she murmured with a smile. "Thank you for tonight," she added.

~~~~~~0~~~~~~

Sam woke the next morning to the smell of coffee and bacon. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and wandered sleepily toward the kitchen. He leaned on the entrance and watched her humming happily to herself as she puttered around in his t-shirt trying to find everything she needed. _He could definitely get used to waking up to this._

She sensed his presence, and looked over with a dazzling smile.

"You're up early," Sam said returning the smile. "You didn't have trouble sleeping, did you? Was the bed OK?" he added, the smile wavering momentarily.

"Everything was perfect, Sam. I was just happy and eager to get up. I wanted to do something nice for you this morning. That's all. Does a garden omelet sound good? I'm not great at fixing the fried ones," she said crinkling her nose.

"I love omelets, and I'll file a mental note that you're not fond of fried eggs," he smiled. "You didn't have to do this, you know. Given the way you usually come scrambling into Parade at the last minute, I know you're not usually such a morning person."

She shrugged, "Waking up here could change that. I feel like I'm at a Bed and Breakfast, or something," she said giddily.

"A Bed and Breakfast with a chef that looks like you do right now would make a fortune. I'd quit the force and play innkeeper with you right now if earning an income didn't require having pesky guests around," he chuckled along with her.

"If you're this perky after a sleepover, I can't wait to see what a night of proper lovemaking does for you," he added, relishing his ability to make her blush.

The knife she was using dropped from her nerveless fingers with a loud clatter.

Sam laughed, "I don't think we'd pass a health inspection if you nearly chop off a finger every time I make a comment about how sexy you are. Because it's a thought that crosses my mind pretty much every time I look at you."

"OK, now you might have to finish off this chopping while I watch the bacon. I'm definitely too flustered to continue," she shook her head at how easily he made her go all quivery inside.

"You got it," he agreed, pulling her in for a quick kiss first.

Andy held onto his arm as he pulled back and was about to scoot her away from the cutting board, "I don't know why you waited for me. I don't deserve you," she said huskily.

"Hey, don't ever say that again," he said adamantly. "This is exactly the kind of second guessing I was talking about. It's why I want to take things slowly at first," he added, pulling her back in for a long bear hug. "You should know by now that I never do anything I don't want to do. Trust me, you deserve to be loved more than anyone I know. Just like there's no one I'd rather have watching my back on the job, there's no one else I want by my side for everything else. You're it for me, OK?"

~~~~~0~~~~~

"We have some time before we need to get ready to leave for work. Should we check twitter to see what the fallout was after we ducked out of the Penny last night?" Sam asked after they finished breakfast.

Andy looked at him in surprise, "You really want to check the twitter gossip mill?"

Sam shrugged, "Better to have a heads up. Come snuggle up on my lap in my comfy leather recliner to make it a little less painful for me," he suggested.

Andy giggled, "You really know how to work it, don't you? As if I don't know you're just as interested in the gossip as anyone," she smirked, making an utterly unconvincing attempt not to show how much the thought of snuggling for a while with Sam made her lose interest in what anyone else was saying about them.

"I'm working it, McNally, but my interest in gossip isn't the thing I'm trying to downplay. I think you have the pretext reversed," he grinned.

She blushed again, but settled happily into the chair with him, loving the luxury of having his arms around her for a little fun time before having to face the day.

"So, do you really want to check this or what?" Andy asked.

"Mmm Hmm," he murmured, inhaling the scent of her sleep-tousled hair, as he absently stroked his hand along one of her bare inner thighs. "Don't' let me disturb you."

Andy laughed, "Too late for that. Behave yourself, Sam, or I'm not going to let you out of the house. Then we'll really have a gossip buzz saw to deal with," she warned.

Sam didn't withdraw his hand from her leg, but he did still its motion and settle it lower near her knee.

"Go ahead. I promise I'll be good," Sam said, placing his chin on her shoulder and trying to focus on the screen of her phone.

Andy shot him a skeptical look out of the corner of her eye, before trying to focus on it herself.

Sure enough, while most of the chatter must have taken place face to face at the Penny, there were a few tweets about them.

Dov: So what are we thinking for Parade, dark circles or big smiles? Both?

Traci: Dov, I told you last night that you're always jumping the gun because of your own horniness

Dov: And I told YOU, they're definitely knocking boots after that kiss.

Dov: McNally's knees literally buckled. No way does any guy not seal the deal after getting a reaction like that!

Chris: Dov, what do you know about making a girl's knees buckle? You shouldn't talk about Andy that way.

Dov: What? It's not an insult. Everybody thinks Swarek is a cool guy. If I was a chick, I'd do him

Gail: Eww, Dov! We all know you have a little man-crush on Swarek, but TMI !

"_What?" _Sam looked up from nibbling at her shoulder. "You made those last two up," he accused.

"See for yourself," Andy handed him the phone. She was laughing too hard to hold it still anyway.

"Huh, The kid really did say that," Sam grumbled, as he held the phone so she could follow along as he verified the last two and continued reading.

Traci: Yeah, man-boy. You need to get a better filter on your tweeting

Shaw: You should listen to Nash, knucklehead. You think Sammy won't have Andy check this today?

Dov: But, Sir. How can he get mad when he started it with the prank and the kiss?

Andy broke off to jab Sam's shoulder, "Yeah, this _is_ all your fault. So you can't blame Dov for his man-crush. How could someone like Dov not want to grow up to be like you," she teased.

"Well, I do have an unbelievably hot new girlfriend. So, I suppose I can give him a pass," Sam said.

"Although, now that I think of it, I'm kind of ticked about yesterday myself. All of my friends thought I was either too naïve to know the double meaning of 'sushi' or enough of a slut to brag about letting you go down on me during shift! What's up with that anyway? Noelle of all people was the only one to give me enough credit to know that had to be a prank tweet from you," Andy said with annoyance. "I'm going to have to give them a piece of my mind about that."

"Want to send a tweet now to get back at them?" Sam asked.

"Like what?" Andy asked.

"Well, since debate seems to be raging about whether we did the deed or not, it depends on whether you want to yank their chain again and set off another round of speculation, or have me threaten them to shut them up," Sam said.

"How could we yank their chains?"

"I don't know. You could Tweet something like _'OK, inquiring minds. I had a nice time. Sam made my toes curl' _That would probably send them into another tizzy of wondering if you know what that sounds like, and what you really mean by it."

Andy laughed, "That's not bad. You're a little too good at coming up with these. Hmm. Much as I'm tempted, I think I'd rather cut this off and sick my big, scary new boyfriend on them so we can be left in peace."

"OK. Here, you type this in for me," Sam handed the phone back to her.

Andy: Just so we're clear, the next few tweets are from Swarek

Andy: I have no interest in "sealing the deal" prematurely

Andy: As far as I'm concerned, whatever happens is going to be serious, not a fling

Andy: The fingers of the next person who tweets anything about us will have an unpleasant encounter with my vice grips

"Sam!" Andy objected. "I can't send that last one. Tweets hang around cyberspace forever. Some shark lawyer will dig it up some day and use it against you in court," She laughed.

"OK, strike the last one and go with this," he suggested.

Andy: Fun and games are over. The next person who tweets anything about us will answer to me.

"Better," Andy said. "Done. That should take care of things."

Sam started nuzzling her neck and resumed stroking her leg, "Now that we're done with the idiot brigade, can we spend a few minutes on something more fun before we have to go shower and swing by your house?"

"With pleasure," she agreed. After a few very enjoyable moments, she decide she better lighten things up, so she added, "Just don't get too carried away here, or you may be suffering from another thing I don't need look up in urban dictionary," she teased.

"Hmm, what's that?" Sam asked idly.

"Blue balls," she said deadpan.

That elicited a surprised belly laugh from Sam, "Well, I guess _no one _should be taking you for any kind of naïve young thing after all. I hate to break it to you, McNally, but I've already experienced that condition a few times since you tackled me in that filthy alley. I don't' suppose a few more days will kill me."

"Just how many days did you have in mind before your extended slow-down-the-train seduction has played out?" she asked with a pout.

"We've got four more days until we have a three-day stretch off. You think you can hold up that long?" he winked.

"If that's what my man wants, it sounds like a good plan to me," she smiled.

"It's nice to hear you say that openly without needing the Edie cover to hide behind," Sam gave her hair a quick affectionate tug and kissed her quickly. "We better go," he added before standing and setting her on her feet.


	6. Chapter 6: Locker Room

**Author's Note:**

Couldn't resist adding a this short little scene. Dov is such a great character that I wanted to write some fun interaction between him, Swarek and Shaw. Enjoy!

**Chapter 6: Locker Room**

"Dov, I still think you're worrying too much about what Swarek might do. But you do need to watch the way you run your mouth on twitter. The things that Shaw and Best put in that prank review about both of us were half true. It's things like this that make people think you're not serious and respectful of the chain of command," Chris said as they headed into the locker room. Dov had been jumpy and pestering Chris and Gail to bring him in early.

Dov began throwing on his uniform at record speed as he replied. "Look, I know people think I gossip too much and can't keep anything in the vault. But it's not true. In fact, one of the big things I've kept secret has to do with McSwarek. I'll tell you now since they've basically come out and said they're an item. You'll see that I'm not paranoid," Dov assured Chris.

"What could you know that I don't? You didn't even see Swarek wail on Callaghan during retraining like I did," Chris scoffed.

"You weren't around the night Andy and I made that big gun bust. There were a couple things we left out of the report that no one but the three of us know," Dov said.

"Like what?" Chris frowned.

"Like that the dude was the one who made Andy during the hooker sting. And he was a TOTAL psycho. Everyone knows he had a gun on Andy before I found her, but there's more to it. After we got him subdued and cuffed, Andy was shaking like a leaf. So I got her to tell me what happened. He said a lot of bizarre, twisted stuff to her and got really creepy and rough groping her when he was searching up under her skirt to make sure she didn't have a gun. Swarek got there and overheard her talking to me about the whole thing."

Chris cleared his throat uncomfortably, but Dov didn't notice as he finished dressing and plowed on with the story.

"For a while there, I thought he was going to lose it and grab some of the tools from that warehouse to go medieval on the dude. It was intense. Trust me when I say a little extra beat down to a padded up Callaghan couldn't have been anything compared to how pissed he was that night. He had to work pretty hard to keep his temper even an hour later after the reporters were gone.

He really reamed us out. I thought he might even lay me out in the parking lot for letting it happen. He tried to pretend it was as much about the danger to the civilian, but I could tell it was really about what almost happened to Andy. And I think she was more upset at getting yelled at by him than by her close call with the psycho. That's why I've been more sure than anyone that Luke would be toast, and they'd end up getting together.

"Uh, Dov…" Chris tried again, but Dov's motor mouth still had a momentum of its own that didn't allow him to register it at first.

Anyway, that's why I kept bugging you about coming early. I'm not above hustling out of here to the safety of Parade where everything is in sight of the white shirts…." Dov finished before he finally caught onto Chris's efforts to clue him in.

"…and he's standing behind me, isn't he?" Dov groaned, closing his eyes in frustration.

He opened them and turned around to see Swarek propped against the door jamb, with Shaw and a bunch of other officers crowding around in anticipation of a show. It was the same vibe that had been in the room when Boyko first paired McNally with Swarek right after his cover was blown.

"What's the matter, Epstein? You're looking a little pale," Sam smirked.

"Actually, Sammy, I'd say he looks downright green," Shaw jumped in. Turning to quirk a brow at Dov, he added, "Are you sick, Epstein, or just expecting a-_what was the phrase_-a beat down?"

"You think he deserves a beat down, Shaw?" Sam asked casually.

"Well, he has been running his mouth even more than usual lately, especially on twitter," Shaw replied, pretending to consider the question seriously. "But that may be a little extreme. Maybe just reaming him out again is the ticket."

"I think maybe you're still being too hasty, Oliver. I mean, we really have to consider things from all angles before flying off the handle, don't you think?" Sam replied.

"Your call, Sammy," Shaw shrugged. "But what angles are there on this really?"

"Well, we have to consider the new things that have come to light about Epstein recently. He may have unknown depths and delicate sensibilities we need to take into account," Sam said with exaggerated thoughtfulness, enjoying dragging this out.

After a pause, he continued with a wicked grin, "For instance, I never knew Epstein spent so much time considering what it might be like to be a woman," Sam delivered the punch line they'd been building toward, and the crowd broke into snickers. Those who had seen the twitter exchange really cracked up at Dov's reaction. Even Chris's lips twitched with the effort to hold back his laughter.

"Protecting another girlfriend, Sammy?" Shaw smirked, bringing down the house with unrestrained laughter and catcalls to Dov.

The noise nearly drowned out Sam's reply, "Naw, I'm a one-woman man." He levered himself upright and slapped Dov on the shoulder as he walked by, "Sorry, kid."

Epstein made a hasty retreat, muttering, "And I thought nothing could be worse than the heckling over the Guardian super hero fiasco."

Chris took a moment to allow himself a broad smile at Swarek and Shaw before plastering a serious look on his face and following his roommate to lend moral support while Dov tended his bruised ego.


	7. Chapter 7: Story Time

**Author's Note:**

This is pretty different from anything I've written. But you guys tell me I didn't go over the top in Ch 4, so of course I have to see if I can't jump the shark yet in this story. ;)

Twilight fans, don't crucify me for the brief reference here. I'm not really bagging on it, I just needed a well-known pop culture chick-lit title that would likely not be to Sam's taste.

Also, be warned this is pretty long. But cutting it in two didn't seem workable. The excerpts from _The English Patient _are real, but I mixed up the order of a few things for the sake of the story.

**Chapter 7: Story Time**

"So, what are we going to do for tonight's not-quite-foreplay activities?" Andy asked after they'd finished dinner.

"What are we going to do for _what_?" Sam did a double take.

"Well, that's how I think of last night. It fits, doesn't it?" Andy shrugged.

"I guess. Tonight should be lady's choice, shouldn't it? I ran the show last night," Sam replied, curious what she'd come up with.

"We-ell…this morning did give me one idea. First, I think we need to give your downstairs spa tub a try since you went to all that work glamming up the bathroom. I can give you a foot massage this time," she offered.

"Sounds great to me. But you said something about this morning. What else were you going to suggest?" certain she meant to follow that 'first' with something she was shy about proposing.

She blushed a little before saying, "Well, I don't know if you'll be up for it, but I was wondering if afterward I could curl up on your lap again while you read to me for a while? I love the sound of your voice when you're not yelling, and it was kind of a turn on to feel the vibration of your chest while listening to you speak. You practically have a library in your office, and we could light a fire…." she trailed off, embarrassed that it might sound silly or cheesy to him.

The look in his eyes immediately reassured her, "I told you I'd be open to any of your ideas. Let's go pick something out before we fire up the tub," he put his arm around her waist to lead her back toward the office.

"I'm not sure I'll have the perfect thing for this occasion, though," he looked at her speculatively, "Do you want me to read you poetry? Like Keats, or Elizabeth Barrett Browning, or something?" he asked carefully, uncertain what she had in mind and not wanting to say anything she might interpret as poking fun.

"Well, you could read the phone book, and I'd probably be happy," she smiled at him, before an impulse to pull a prank took over. "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of Stephenie Meyers," she said, watching Sam carefully under her lashes.

"Who?"

"You know, the author of the Twilight books?" Andy replied earnestly.

Sam couldn't quite hide the look of horror that crossed his face, before he schooled his face into a neutral expression and searched desperately for what to say and how to get out that idea. Andy turned away when she couldn't hold a straight face. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught motion that betrayed her silent laughter.

_Hah! Two can play this game_, Sam thought. "Really? I'm so relieved you didn't go for the stuffy classics. Don't tell anyone, but I actually love those vampire books."

When she whipped around, now with her own shocked and horrified expression, she encountered his broad, wicked grin at having also fooled her. They both broke into laughter.

"You know, I should be much more insulted that you fell for that, McNally." Sam complained. "I think my masculinity is going to need some TLC to recover," he winked.

"I'm not buying that you have any lack of confidence in that department, Andy scoffed.

Sam shrugged, "You're right. So I'll read any mushy thing your heart desires without a second thought," he said with a charming smile.

"Well, Keats or Browning poems are beautiful, but actually I think I saw something better. A novelist with a bit of a poetic style, and Canadian to boot. Since you have all his books, I take it you like Michael Ondaatje?"

Sam's eyes lit up, "Yeah, I do like his work, and it fits for what you had in mind."

"Is _The English Patient _too mushy for you?" she asked anxiously.

"For reading aloud with you on my lap? I think it's probably a better choice than the one that takes place in the middle of the genocide in Sri Lanka," he teased. "Anyway, it's a good romantic novel. I even liked the movie, as far as long, historical epics go," Sam admitted. "In fact, I think I'm rather looking forward to reading you that part at the end about _'bodies we have plunged into and swum up' _" Sam drawled.

That tone sent shivers up her spine and a renewed blush to her cheeks, "My thought exactly. There are some great steamy passages in that book," she said huskily. "I also always loved how Katherine first seduced Almasy by reading the story from his favorite book. He said he fell in love with a voice." Andy smiled. "In the movie, she seemed like such a temptress the way she read it and looked at him across the campfire. You knew right then and there he was going to betray his benefactor with her," Andy smiled.

"Some women can make a man do just about anything, principles be damned," Sam agreed, his look making it clear he considered her to belong in that category.

Andy swallowed to restore a little moisture to her suddenly dry mouth, "I think we have our winner. Let's get to that Jacuzzi tub so i can hear you read all these good parts," she said, eager to continue this somewhere other than his office.

"Go get it started and jump in. I'll get the fireplace ready to light when we're done and bring drinks. You want to go with wine this time since we're going for a literary evening?"

"Perfect!" she smiled at him, marveling at seeing such a different side to the tough demanding cop she'd been partnered with for months.

* * *

Andy snuggled happily into Sam's lap facing a roaring fire. They had decided to have him read the parts that were the flashbacks to what had happened in Africa rather than just reading the first part of a novel that skips all over in time.

~~~0~~~

I promised to tell you how one falls in love. This is the story of how I fell in love with a woman who read a specific story from Herodotus.

When I met Katherine she was married. A married woman. Clifton climbed out of the plane and then, unexpected, for we had planned the expedition with just him in mind, she emerged. Here were four men and one woman and her husband and his verbal joy of honeymoon. I see her, still, always with the eye of Adam. She was a willow.

~~~~0~~~~

Andy clapped her hands and blurted, "My tree!"

Sam stopped and glanced over at her with a puzzled quirk to his brow. "Your tree? I can't say I'm following your reaction to the metaphor, McNally," he said, amused.

Andy just grinned back unphased, "Remember when you were mocking me with the 'no time for What Kind of Tree Would I Be' exercises? You know, right before you dumped me and I figured out where the files were? The second I pulled that thumb drive out of the salt shaker, my first thought was that I would be a willow tree. I guess I never got a chance to rub it in because I was too busy pulling your stubborn, dive-in-with-no-plan ass out of Antoine's restaurant," she teased. Then when I saw you being such a softie with Emily, I didn't have the heart to bring it up," she added.

"Well, you certainly knocked me back on my heels that day. I would have never believed a rookie as new as you, especially one coming off a rough first day, would have had the brains and the guts to come charging in on your own to save the day. It's the reason I slipped up and hit on you when you chased after me in the parking lot," he said with a smile.

"You think _you_ were rocked back on your heels? We had started the morning with you taking every opportunity to be a jerk, but I still almost said yes. All of a sudden out of nowhere, you were all smiles and dimples and smoldering looks and saying my name like I was a present you couldn't wait to unwrap. I don't think you have any idea what a potent effect you had on me. Or how unsettling it was to know that I wouldn't stand a chance if you ever dropped your restraint and tried again. That was the first time I noticed what a sexy voice you have. Thanks for humoring me about this reading thing," she kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, I was actually a little self-conscious and worried this idea might not live up to your expectations. But if the first paragraph can spur a conversation that turns into compliments like that, I think I might have underestimated the potential of this not-quite-foreplay. Give me a minute to recover," he added, taking a sip of his wine, before returning to the book.

Andy was glad that he now seemed more into the spirit of playing along with her. She was enjoying this so much she thought she might never want to read any other way again. But as he continued, both also began to realize the melodramatic story of this couple in a messy triangle, so different from them in almost all particulars, still cut a little close to home in some parts:

~~~~0~~~~

They went back to Cairo and returned a month later. After that month she was muted, as if something had occurred or she realized suddenly that wondrous thing about the human being, it can change. She did not have to remain a socialite who married an adventurer. She was discovering herself. It was painful to watch, because Clifton could not see it, her self-education.

The words of her husband's praise for her meant nothing. But I would look up sometimes as he spoke and catch her glance, witnessing my unspoken exasperation, and then her demure smile. That was the burden of our story. Our situation.

I was a man fifteen years older than she, you understand. I had reached that stage in life where I identified with cynical villains in a book. But she was smarter. She was hungrier for change than I expected.

"Geoffrey has planned a party for you. He's writing a song, ands want me to read a poem, but I want to do something else." "Here take the book you wanted to borrow earlier and look through it." I pulled it from my knapsack and handed it to her.

Clifton brought out a bottle of cognac he had hidden. The whole bottle was drunk during Maddox's account of our journey and Clifton's funny song. Then she began to read from _The Histories_-the story of Candaules and his queen. I always skim past that part. It was also what she'd chosen.

_This Candaules had become so passionately in love with his own wife; and having become so, he deemed that his wife was fairer by far than all other women. To Gyges, son of Daskylus, he used to describe the beauty of his wife, praising it above all measure._

_He said: "Gyges, I think that you do not believe me when I tell you of the beauty of my wife, for it happens that men's ears are less apt to believe than their eyes. Contrive therefore means by which you may look upon her naked."_

"_I believe you that she is of all women the fairest and I entreat you not to ask of me that which is not lawful for me to do." But the King answered him thus: "Be of good courage, Gyges. For I will contrive it so that she shall not perceive that she has been seen by you. I will place you in the room where we sleep, behind the open door; and after I have gone in, my wife will also come to lie down. Now there is a seat near the entrance of the room, and on this she lays her garments as she takes them off, one by one; and so you will be able to gaze at her at full leisure."_

_But Gyges is witnessed by the queen when he leaves. The next day she calls in Gyges and gives him two choices. "Either you must slay Candaules and possess both me and the Kingdom of Lydia, or you must yourself here on the spot be slain, so that you mayest not in future, by obeying Candeles in all things, see that which you should not. Either he must die who formed this design, or you who have looked upon me naked."_

I heard the words she spoke across the fire, never looking up, even when she teased her husband. Perhaps she was just reading it to him. Perhaps there was no ulterior motive in the selection. But a path suddenly revealed itself in real life. With the help of an anecdote, I fell in love. I am a man who fasts until I see what I want.

~~~~0~~~~~

"I can kind of relate to him, aside from the prickly Hungarian Count part. So, you like the idea of that being the way she put a spell on the guy, huh? I think I prefer what made me fall for you in our story. It's better than a clever mind game planting the seed of an obsession. " Sam commented.

"And how did it happen in our story?" she asked.

"It was the way the bond you developed with Bennie's foster mother made you want to look out for her. I was really touched that when you asked for another favor that day it wasn't to go do something to take your mind off things. It was to go help that woman on one of the worst nights of her life. Even hung over, I've never been happier to do something for someone," he smiled at her. "That's when I knew for sure I was a goner."

"Well, you have a way of making it sound a lot more romantic than it seemed then. I wish I hadn't been too upset to notice I'd just made that kind of impact on the guy who still gave me butterflies even if I didn't wan to admit it. Now I'm the one who's all flustered by a compliment. Story time is turning out even better than I thought," she smiled. "Read a little bit more."

~~~~0~~~~

Words, Caravaggio. They have a power.

She had been part of the expedition for almost a year. I saw her, conversed with her. We had been continually in the presence of the other. Later, when we were aware of mutual desire, these previous moments flooded back into the heart, now suggestive, that nervous grip of an arm on a cliff, looks that had been missed or misinterpreted.

I began to be doubly formal in her company. As if awkward about a previously revealed nakedness. On Hassanein Bey's Cairo lawn-that grand old man of the 1923 expedition-she walked over with the government aid Roundell and shook my hand, asked him to get her a drink, turned back to me and said, "I want you to ravish me." Roundell returned. It was as if she had handed me a knife. Within a month I was her lover.

Her life with others no longer interested me. I wanted only her stalking beauty, the theater of her expressions. Women want everything of a lover. She had always wanted words. Words gave her clarity, brought reason. Whereas I thought words bent emotions like sticks in water.

She returned to her husband. On the night of her insistence on parting, she sat, enclosed within herself, in the armour of her terrible conscience. What had our relationship been? The betrayal of those around us, or the desire of another life?

…..

Don't we forgive everything of a lover? We forgive selfishness, desire, guile. As long as we are the motive for it. In the cave, after all those months of separation and anger, they had come together and spoken once more as lovers, rolling away the boulder they had placed between themselves for some social law neither had believed in.

I believe this. When we meet those we fall in love with, there is an aspect of our spirit that is historian, a bit of a pendant, who imagines or remembers a meeting when the other had passed by innocently, just as Clifton might have opened a door for you a year earlier and ignored the fate of his life. But all parts of the body must be ready for the other, all atoms must jump in one direction for desire to occur.

We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all of this to be marked on my body when I am dead. I believe in such cartography-to be marked by nature, not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps. I carried Katherine Clifton into the desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight.

* * *

Sam glanced down at Andy and saw that she'd drifted off, her head tucked into the hollow between his shoulder and neck. He set the book aside and slid an arm carefully under her knees so he could carry her off to bed like the peaceful child she resembled.

_So much for the big turn on_, he thought, smiling down at her, without any real disappointment. The important thing to him is that she was getting more comfortable with the idea of them as a couple, that they could make this work long term. He hadn't caught expressions of doubt and anxiety as often as the day unfolded and they managed to shift back into the role of riding patrol together without much awkwardness. And this little reading idea of hers had opened up some illuminating conversation about things that had remained unsaid in a way he never would have predicted.

As he reached the top of the staircase, she opened her eyes and said, "Well, that was impressive. You should have been a firefighter."

He realized by her alertness that she must have been feigning sleep. So he gave her a big, jarring toss onto the guest bed, throwing a little mock outrage her way. "You _faked_ being asleep?" he asked as she let out a little shriek of surprise.

"Don't be mad. _'Don't we forgive everything of a lover?' _How could I resist getting you to carry me into the communal book of moonlight?" she asked, giggling as she glanced up at the room's skylight.

"We're not lovers yet, so don't push it, McNally," Sam tried to use a gruff tone, but couldn't help ruining the effect by breaking into a grin. "But I'd say breakfast in bed tomorrow morning would be enough to earn total forgiveness," he winked.

"Hey, it's your call that we're not lovers. But I don't mind doing breakfast in bed as second choice route to forgiveness. Want to place your order now?" she smiled at him.

"Carrying you up here isn't my first choice of ways to burn calories with you either, McNally. But since I did, I think a carb splurge is in order. Surprise me with whatever you make best: pancakes, waffles, French toast. I love all that breakfast stuff," he grinned back.

"You know, Dov used to say that you had turned me into your sexy secretary with a gun. Are you sure you're not just keeping me around to be your sexy B&B chef?" she teased.

"You'll find out soon enough why I really want you around. And I intend to make it more than worth the wait. I still have to convince you to make sticking around a permanent thing. Much as I love the B&B fantasy, I'm hoping this place will seem more like home before too long," this time there was no teasing in his eyes.

'Sam…" he thought she was going to protest, if only to tell him not to say something like that while he was about to head down to his room. But instead she added, "_You_ already feel like home to me." She got up to wrap her arms around him and give him a lingering goodnight kiss.

"But you better go now if you want us to wait for our three-day stretch. Because, trust me, all the atoms in my body are jumping in one direction right now," she warned.

"And they've got all the atoms in mine leaping in response," he flashed his dimples at her, before giving her a last swift kiss and turning to go.

"Sweet dreams, McNally," he said from the doorway. "_I want you to know that I'm not missing you yet_," he added, quoting from the book.

"_You will_," she quoted back. "You can call me again if you need to," she added with a wink.

~~~~0~~~~

**AN:** This chapter kind of came out of nowhere. But I've always had a soft spot for _The English Patient_ because I actually got to go to the Oscars and the victory party the year it won. An old friend from UCLA was in town this week and the reminiscing gave me the idea to use it for a second night of not-quite-foreplay for them. Not quite sure I could ever picture Sam and Andy doing this, but...guess fanfic is the place to stretch the characters a little. Hope I didn't distort them beyond recognition. ;)


	8. Chapter 8: Revelations

**Author's Note:**

Thanks again to those who have stuck with this as it's continued to grow. Appreciate those who review, as always.

Decided to throw another curveball and introduce a little angst into this otherwise lighthearted story. Somehow this story has also morphed into my vehicle to comment around the edges about things that happened in season one. Enjoy!

**Chapter 8: Revelations**

"Wow! That was fantastic!" Sam sighed with contentment after Andy set the tray of the demolished wild blueberry French toast aside. "But I'm definitely going to have to go back to my normal morning routine tomorrow and get in an extra long run or I really am going to turn into a fatty," he patted his full stomach.

Andy snuggled into the crook of his arm and snaked a hand up under his t-shirt to pat his solid abs affectionately. "Like I said, I don't think a few days of indulgence will do any permanent damage to these babies," she smiled up at him.

"I don't want to take any chances. I've got the world's hottest policewoman to satisfy," he said with a quick kiss.

"Are you kidding? Do you have any idea what spending time with this charming, kind, affectionate twin who's taken over your extremely sexy body has done to me?" She began to stroke his stomach in a much more suggestive manner, "I can hardly keep my hands off you. I've never had someone like you pay so much attention to me. What happened to the hot but aggravating smart ass who seemed to always be impatient and irritated with the world?"

"I've only been irritated with you when you took reckless risks with your safety or made stupid bets with your heart," Sam said rolling over to brace himself above her. "But if you keep touching me like that, you might provoke a whole different kind of impatience," he said with a growl before giving her a long, deep kiss with significantly more heat than he'd allowed the past couple days.

~~~~0~~~~

"Hey, Sam, my Dad says a friend of his offered him his 4 season hockey tickets for the game tonight, but he's got a meeting. Do you wan to go and maybe see if Traci and Jerry want to come along?" she asked, holding her phone away from her ear.

Sam grinned over at her, "Hell yes! That sounds great. Call Traci and she if she can find a sitter for Leo. I'm sure Jerry will be up for it, especially if she can come too."

"I thought you might be stoked about a night doing something other than bubble baths," Andy laughed.

Sam grabbed her hand, "It wasn't exactly a chore. I had a great time with you the past couple days. But a change of pace to a good old fashioned brawling sport will be fun too," he smiled happily. _'Great time' is the understatement of the decade_. He'd been on top of the world ever since they'd finally crossed the threshold from teasing banter into something moving steadily toward the kind of relationship a man builds his life around.

~~~~0~~~~

"So, uh, you two sure skated out of the barn fast yesterday," Jerry commented, aiming a sly look at Sam and Andy in the seat behind him.

"Yeah, you two totally missed all the action last night," Traci chimed in.

"At the Penny?" Andy asked.

"Well, it started at the Barn," Traci replied. "Round two of hazing Dov kicked in, and it kicked up quite a ruckus. Don't tell me you two still haven't heard about this?" Traci asked rolling her eyes. "Were you really so wrapped up in making googley eyes at each other all day that you didn't hear _anything_ about it?"

"No, we have no idea what you're talking about, Nash," Sam said impatiently.

"Oh, ho ho. Strap in for a good story then," Jerry laughed. "Go ahead and tell them, Trace," he added as they made their way from the parking lot to the arena.

"Well, after Sam and Oliver gave Dov a hard time yesterday morning about his dippy tweets, a bunch of the rest of the guys decided they wanted to get in on the heckling. Of course, Gail was all over it. She's always trying to suck up to the senior guys and prove she can hang with them and be a regular part of cop pranks. And she was on desk duty with me, during which she never does any real work. I tried to talk her out of it, but you know she never listens to me.

So she Photoshopped a flier with a big picture of Dov with a goofy smile on his face and a thought bubble with Sam's picture surrounded by hearts and cupids. Then she gave one of the patrol guys the name of the surgeon who did the work on the Tranny Dov had to search their first day. He swung by the guy's office and picked up like a gazillion brochures about sex change procedures. Gail taped the Photoshopped thing to Dov's locker and they stuffed the brochures inside."

"Poor man-boy. He comes in knowing something was up because so many people were hanging around the locker room smirking at him. Even Noelle was hanging around camera ready. He walks in and finds the photo. He crumples it up, and does pretty well taking all the comments from the peanut gallery with good humor. So just when he thinks it's over, he opens his locker and all those brochures come spilling out.

That's when Dov lost it. He knew Gail was behind it. Things have always been pretty tense between them anyway. You know how he always rides her about the Peck clan, not to mention how they get on each other's nerves when she's with Chris cramping Dov's frat boy style at home. So the two of them had a big throw-down and poor Chris was caught in the middle." Traci shook her head. "It was pretty ugly. I'm still not quite sure who's speaking to each other yet."

"Wow, I can't believe that all went down last night," Andy said, stunned. "Sam, can't you do something to make the guys back off and leave Dov alone?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Sam her shot down.

"Why not? You're involved. You started teasing him. You were a part of that picture Gail made. You could tell them they've had enough fun and games the way you shut down the tweeting about us. No one's made so much as a peep about us since," Andy pointed out.

"That's different. The line about commenting on a committed relationship is different from hazing someone for putting their foot in their mouth. They'll get tired of kidding him about it soon, if they're not done with it already. If I step in, it will probably just bring on more cracks about me protecting my 'girlfriend.' Even if they listen to me, it would only make things worse for Dov in the long run," Sam explained patiently.

"He's right, Andy," Traci said firmly. "Dov needs to learn the difference between prep school humor and how things work in cop world. And he also has to learn how to not let Frosty run all over him. He bottles up his resentment until he lashes out a little too harshly at her weakest points. A few tears and he backs completely off and is back to square one. She always wins. If he wants to stay friends with Chris, he has to learn how to neutralize her mean girl crap better. You and I and maybe Oliver can give him some advice behind the scenes, but I think Sam should stay out of it."

"Well, maybe when it blows over a little, you could at least be a little nicer to Dov. The man-crush crack may have been one of Gail's mean girl jokes, but it's true that a lot of his awkward wannabe 'swagga' is an attempt to try to be like you," Andy appealed to Sam.

"That's him trying to be like me?" Sam asked horrified.

"Sometimes, yes. Please, Sam?"

"OK, OK. Stop with the big brown eyes. I'll try, I swear."

"Shaw will be happy about that too," Jerry chimed in. "He's been grumbling about how he's all alone whipping the 'Wonder Twins' into shape. He says he has no partner in crime because you can't be bothered to pay attention one way or another to any rookie except McNally."

Sam threw up his hands defensively, "Alright, I get it. I'll pay the young pups some attention. Geesh. Frickin' Shaw should stop bellyaching. He should pay more attention to the important stuff instead of getting distracted every time he misses snack time or spending so much time dreaming up hazing games. Both times he was paired with Andy, near disaster struck," Sam grumbled.

"Well, the same thing could be said about you, friend," Jerry shot him a pointed look. "McNally's a bit of a trouble magnet," Jerry grinned to take the sting out of the comment.

"That's mostly Boyko's fault. Thank God, I got his timing for being kicked upstairs to HQ moved up. He did more damage than anyone to both Epstein and McNally," Sam vented.

"What are you talking about, Sam?" Andy said aghast. Jerry and Traci also looked at him with startled expressions.

_Damn, why had he blurted that out? _

Sam shrugged uncomfortably, trying to pick his way through the mine field he'd just opened up, "Boyko was about as useless as a paperweight his last few months while he was biding his time for the promotion to go through. He had no business pairing you with me the day right after my cover was blown. He knew that I was going to be cleaning up loose ends from that operation. He gave his blessing for me to do what I needed as long as it didn't blow back to be his problem. But he knew damn well that's not the sort of thing a brand new rookie should be exposed to that soon in her training. And he should've been more worried that I might take the opportunity for some payback. But he did it anyway for his own amusement.

If crap like that wasn't bad enough, he let his desire to show up other Divisions get out of hand. First he pushed Traci to fight when she didn't really want to. But when he micro-managed things to pull you and Dov out of the field only to give you the worst possible advice, that was the last straw. The absolute last thing anyone should have told the two of you was to 'get creative' and take more initiative. Both of you needed the opposite advice, to back off a little and let your TOs help you channel your energy. At that time what you both needed was to be content to listen and learn for a while until you got some more experience to sharpen your instincts rather than charging around half-cocked to impress him. Both Oliver and I had to bust our asses for weeks undoing the damage Boyko did. Andy, I know you thought I didn't think you were doing anything right for a while, but it wasn't your fault. It was all on Boyko."

"So you're saying because of that you did something to get his move out of the Division accelerated? And you never told me about it?" Andy asked, getting more upset by the minute.

"Andy, that idiotic talk he gave you two caused the two of you to rush headlong into a situation in which you were within a heartbeat of being raped and killed! Was it really so unreasonable for me to get him out of a position to be in charge of personnel after that? Even if I hadn't already been half in love with you, I couldn't have overlooked that," Sam tried to grab her shoulders while he was making his case.

But Andy stepped back out of his reach, "Maybe you were right, but how could you let my name become a part of something like that in central personnel files without even telling me?" Andy looked at him with deeply wounded eyes.

Sam sighed, "I went through unofficial channels to make it happen without your name having to enter into it. My under cover handler has the connections to make something as simple as moving up the timing of something that was going through anyway happen without leaving fingerprints. I probably should have told you, but he asked me to tell no one, including you, in exchange for pulling the strings for me. Andy, you're a terrible liar. I didn't want you to have to keep secrets any more than I wanted to break my word to him. Please don't look at me like I've betrayed you. I was trying to keep everyone safe and protect you."

"I… I need some space to process this," Andy choked out. "I'm sorry guys, I don't think I can sit through a hockey game right now. Here are the tickets. I'm going to catch a cab home."

"Andy, let me come with you. Let's talk about this…" Sam pleaded.

"No, you stay. I need a little time to think first. I need to swing by my place anyway. Come by afterward and we can talk then," Andy replied.

"You think I'm going to be able to just turn my feelings off after this and watch a hockey game?" Sam asked, incredulous. "Don't shut me out like this."

"Right. That's your prerogative, I guess? You know what, forget I said that. That was a cheap shot. I'm not shutting you out, Sam. I just need a couple hours alone before we hash this out. Can you just give me that space?"

Sam stepped toward her again, arm outstretched, ready to object. But then he took a deep breath and gave in. "OK. If that's what you need. But please open the door when I come by. I can't go to sleep tonight with this unresolved."

"I will, I promise," she said and tried to muster a wobbly smile of re-assurance that failed miserably.

"I hate this. I wish you wouldn't walk away in the middle of a discussion," Sam said, running an agitated hand through his hair.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll be ready to talk about it later," she said before turning to walk away.

"I miss you already," he called after her. He was pretty sure he caught the sound of a sob.

"Go with her and make sure she's OK until she catches a cab, Nash" Sam said, never taking his eyes from the tense, forlorn figure walking away from him. He tried to subdue the panic pulsing through his system and resist the overwhelming urge to run after her. Every part of his being wanted to force her to continue this confrontation now.

Jerry put a comforting hand on his friend's arm. "She'll be OK, buddy. And you'll be able to talk her around. If this was an irreparable breach, she wouldn't have agreed to talk to you later tonight. Women hold onto the big betrayals a lot longer than that. She knows you didn't really do anything wrong, she's just hurt."

"I hope you're right," Sam sighed. "If I lose her now, it will end me."


	9. Chapter 9: Tension

**Chapter 9: Tension**

"Hey, are you OK?" Traci asked worriedly when she finally caught up to Andy.

Andy looked around, startled, "Why did you follow me? You're going to miss the game."

"Sam sent me. I think it's killing him not to come after you himself. Don't be too hard on him until you give him a chance to explain everything more fully. He's a good guy. If I had any idea back then how much he was in love with you, I would never have told you to put him on ice and stick with Luke," Traci confessed.

"If he really loves me, how could he have kept this from me? He should never have agreed to keeping a secret from his own partner, the person involved in the incident. I mean, he trusted that guy to be able to pull it off without using my name, but he didn't trust me? You know, he didn't trust me with the location of his off-the-books C.I. either. I understood that at the time. It was our first day working together. But after all the time we've been partnered together, he never confided any of this Boyko maneuvering. Yet he blurts it out tonight. How can I not be hurt by that?"

Traci gave Andy's arm a supportive squeeze, "Of course it hurts. But try not to get too worked up about it until you hear how he saw things. I think you're reading way too much into this. He probably doesn't even think about it in terms of trust. Just tell him how you feel and hear him out with an open mind. It's fine that you needed to leave to collect your thoughts. The two of you haven't been together romantically for long. But don't let your fear of conflict turn this into a habit."

"Maybe you're right," Andy said doubtfully. "I hate that I'm having doubts about him, but I can't help it. I really am damaged goods, I guess," she confessed, blinking back another rush of tears.

"Don't be so hard on yourself either! I think what this is really about is that you're afraid that you can't do a really serious, intense relationship. From what I can see, it's too late, you're already in it. And you'll be fine if you just stop with the self-fulfilling prophesies. You can do this if you have a little faith in yourself," Traci encouraged.

"Thanks, Trace. I really hope you're right about that," Andy sniffed, pulling herself together. "I'm sorry I made such a scene back there. I wanted this to be a fun night for all of us, and I let my hang-ups ruin one of your nights out."

"You haven't ruined anything. Well, Sam probably won't have much fun. But now that I see you're calming down, I'll still have a good time. Go home and do whatever you've let slide while you've been playing house over at Swarek's. Collect your thoughts, but try not to obsess over this. Put in a movie or something, if you have to.

Then get things back on track when Swarek comes over. Having someone like that who is as smitten as he is doesn't happen every day. Don't throw it away because he made a tough call that caused some wounded feelings. You should actually be flattered that he cared enough to go after Boyko and impressed that he was able to pull it off without any of us having a clue he'd done it."

A cab pulled up, so Andy waved Traci off, promising to take her advice to heart.

~~~~0~~~~

"Well?" Sam asked, scanning Traci's face anxiously for a clue about what she'd found.

"Try not to worry too much. She's calmed down quite a bit already. Things will be fine for you two. She'll hear you out. I think you did the right thing letting her go, but if she doesn't open up on her own later, push her to tell you why she got so upset. Don't let her pass it off as a temporary over-reaction that doesn't matter. She's still pretty gun shy about intense attachments, and I think she's as freaked out by how vulnerable getting hurt by you made her feel as by anything else. She knows she has to get over the instinct to retreat, but she's not quite there yet."

"C'mon. Let us help you keep your mind off it while you give her some time to cool down. We don't have to stay for the whole game if you don't want," Jerry clapped Sam on the shoulder and guided him toward their seats.

"Good luck taking my mind off this. The last two days have been perfect, and then I blunder along and trip that lurking time bomb in about the worst possible setting. Waiting around to give her space is going to be torture. Sometimes I think the Inquisition was a cake walk compared to being hung up on Andy McNally," Sam groaned.

"Focus on how great the making up part will be Sammy," Jerry said with a comic leer to lighten the mood. "This woman's given me a few fits too, but it's always been worth it in the end," he added, throwing his arm around Traci.

* * *

When she opened the door, Sam just stood on the threshold, drinking in the sight of her. What should his first words be? _I'm sorry? I love you? Don't ever do this to me again? _For endless moments neither of them could move or say anything as they stared into each other's eyes, probing all the fears lurking in each.

Finally, she extended her right hand to take his and draw him into the room. It reminded him of the handshake gesture of truce she made in the parking lot after their first shift together, so instead he said, "Let me take you home," as he enfolded her hand in his.

"No," she replied, reigniting his panic for a moment. Then she drifted closer with the nervous chuckle that let him know she recognized the moment he was recreating. But this time she looked him in the eye as she placed her hand on his chest before sliding it up to the back of his neck. She leaned up to breathe into his ear, "I want you to ravish me," and after a beat she pulled back to look into his eyes again before adding, "Now."

"Andy, I really think we should talk first…" Sam objected half-heartedly.

"Later. I promise," she insisted.

This time it was Sam who pushed her back against the wall and kissed her hungrily the way she had the night of the blackout, kicking the front door closed.

Andy clung to him desperately, boosting herself up so she could wrap her legs tightly around his waist. Sam took the hint and strode quickly into her bedroom.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come tonight," she said as she frantically tore at his clothes.

Sam dispensed with her clothes with similarly rushed fumbling hands before trapping her against the wall again. "I will always come after you. You don't get to do this anymore." He placed his hand on the bare skin over her racing heart, "No more building walls around this because you're afraid some response of yours will drive me away. I want all of you. This will not be our only time, no matter what we end up saying later."

_Too perceptive_, she thought. Still, hearing him speak her fears aloud only made her that much more desperate to hold onto him, "You're not the only one determined not to stand for any more walls or secrets between us," she said. "You just try leaving me, Sam Swarek," she choked out, raking her nails down his back.

He was certain she'd drawn blood, but he didn't care. "Never," he said, picking her up again and turning to settle her on the bed. Truth be told, his own need for reassurance matched hers. He explored every inch of her body with a fierce possessiveness, driven by an blazing need to make her irrevocably his. Fortunately, that seemed to be what she needed judging by her volcanic response. Because he was beyond making this the tender, leisurely experience he'd originally envisioned. The frustration and anxiety of the past few hours was still too raw.

When she was finally able to regain her breath after the last explosive orgasm, she smiled as she snuggled into his chest. "You took me home after all."


	10. Chapter 10: Wildcat

**Chapter 10: Wildcat**

"So I still feel like home?" Sam asked, relieved. "Because I sort of got the impression that beyond ticking you off, the clumsy way I let the cat out of the bag about Boyko actually made you wonder if I might not be in love with you after all."

"Maybe a little," she admitted, avoiding his eyes.

Sam continued tracing idle patterns along her back, but reached with his other hand to raise her chin to make her look at him. "See now, that's something we need to work on. I'm totally fine with a few fights. In fact, sometimes fighting with you is pretty fun," he flashed her a full dimpled grin.

"But I don't like the idea that you're not secure about the way I feel about you. So I'm just going to have the pleasurable task of showing you night and day that I am not just in love with you, but ridiculously, obscenely, beyond-all-reason in love with you," he smiled.

He rolled over to shift on top of her, "And I'm warning you right now, Andy McNally, that this is a mission I won't give up on until I don't see doubts shadowing your eyes when you think I'm not looking," he paused to give her a long, deep soulful kiss.

"That was a good start," she breathed huskily when he finally released her. "And with lesson plans like that, I almost wouldn't mind being the slow kid. But I don't want to be this emotionally stunted person you feel like you have to treat like a China doll who might crack at the least mis-step. Who could live with that?"

Sam laughed, "A fragile China doll? Please, that's the last way I would ever describe you, emotionally or otherwise. If anything, you've got too much of a lion's heart for your own good. In fact, I'm pretty sure my back makes me look like I just got thrown in a cage with a real lion," he teased.

Andy winced, "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm not sure if that was panic over talk about only getting to be with you once or just getting carried away by what you were doing to me. You can really pick 'em, huh?"

Sam chuckled, "Newsflash, McNally, most men consider getting worked over by a woman who's a bit of a wildcat in the sack the supreme fantasy of their lives, not something that warrants an apology."

Andy giggled, "I don't think I've ever been called a 'wildcat' before. It must just be you that brings the crazy out of me."

"Good!" Sam growled, nibbling at her collar bone. "I don't want you marking anyone but me. And vice versa."

"You didn't put any marks on me," Andy laughed.

"Check the mirror in a while. I'm pretty sure you're going to end up with a couple of bruises. That was, uh, a little more frantic and vigorous than I'd planned for our first go 'round. And anyone less flexible than you wouldn't have been able to fold into some of those positions without soft tissue damage," he grinned wickedly.

Andy blushed a deep crimson, opened her mouth, but couldn't manage anything as a reply to that.

Sam chuckled, "You're cute when you're embarrassed. How a woman as stunning and effortlessly sexy as you are still manages to pull off 'cute' is beyond me," he kissed her nose and both of her pink cheeks. "You're such an appealing bundle of contradictions, I'm glad it's probably going to take the rest of my life to fully figure you out."

"I don't know. You already get me better than anyone. How much mystery can there be?" she asked.

"Plenty. And anyway, I might have gotten a couple hints from Nash about what was on your mind tonight," Sam admitted.

"Really? Well, she really stuck up for you. I think she's fully on board with McSwarek now," Andy smiled.

Sam's eyes widened in surprise, "Miss _'put him on ice' _is now rooting for me? That's a nice change. Always good to have the best friend on your side," he winked.

"Yup. She's your biggest fan now. She admitted she made the wrong call back then. She also said I should take the Boyko thing as a compliment and listen to your side of the story instead of reading things into it."

"Wow, I really do owe Nash a solid. But that reminds me we need to have a serious talk about all of this. There are some other things I need to tell you. But I need you not to be naked if I'm going to keep my wits about me. What do you say we take a quick shower and then have some real talk?" he suggested.

Andy groaned, not sure she was ready to break the closeness to face this.

"You promised," Sam reminded her, not about to let her off the hook.

She sighed, "OK. I know this is important. I just don't want this moment to end."

"We're going to have a lifetime to repeat this moment. That's the great thing about sex. If you do it the right way with the right person, it just keeps getting better," he promised.

"How do you always know the right thing to say?" she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss.

"It's a talent that's taken me a while to develop, McNally. But I've been studying my lioness for a while now. Sort of like putting in the time to figure out how to become the Wildcat Whisperer," he winked.

Andy choked out a laugh, "_Wildcat Whisperer?_ Oh brother, now I've heard everything. Better get off this lioness before she bites this time," she teased.

"See now, you think that's a threat, instead of a promise. You still haven't cracked the male sexual psyche. I think you're going to need more close observation before you learn how pull off a proper dismissal," he grinned back.

He got up and extended a hand toward her, "Coming?" he asked, quirking a brow when she made no move to take it.

"Just taking a moment to observe this male specimen more carefully," she raked her gaze over his naked form. "You know, to get some insights about your 'sexual psyche.' It's sort of like being an anthropologist," she winked and tilted her head.

Sam laughed at her antics, "More like a pornographer, I think."

Andy shrugged, then pouted, "How come I can't make you blush? It's _really_ not fair."

Sam took his turn to shrug, "Those are the breaks, sweetheart. Not everything is fair. And don't try to tell me it wouldn't be a turn off for a man to blush over being checked out by his woman. Now, are you through playing? Ready to come?"

"Yes," she breathed. "But I promised you I'd talk, so I guess it will have to wait."


	11. Chapter 11: Double Duty

**Author's Note:**

Thanks again to those who have reviewed regularly, especially dcj, kal220576, Tinat68, and dreamer1978. You all rock!

This is the chapter where I take the starting point of the Boyko alternate reality and spin it into a whole back story about what Sam's been up to during the months he's been waiting for Andy to wise up and dump Luke. I figured once I'd ventured in that direction, why not run with things?

The names Mickey and Collins are little shout outs to _Would Be Kings_, but aren't particularly intended as models for those characters. (unless you want to picture Jamie Collins 15 years on and with his act much cleaned up, which would make Sam's mentor an older, more volatile version of himself, LOL) Enjoy and let me know what you think!

**Chapter 11: Double Duty**

"OK, right," Sam cleared his throat. "Now I'm the one who's nervous about this. Look, there's a lot I need to still tell you. But before we get to all that, I want to hear what made you so upset, and why you ran off like that? Were you just afraid you would say something too harsh in the heat of the moment?"

"Sort of. No. I don't know. I was, I _am_, really mad that you kept something that major from me all this time. But it also…I don't know. Something about the whole thing makes me think that you still don't think I know what I'm doing on the street. Hearing you describe what went on back then made me feel like an incompetent rookie all over again. It was humiliating to have it all come out in front of Jerry and Traci, and I just wanted to get out of there."

"Andy, you run circles around half the senior officers, let alone the other rookies in your class. I still wish you were a little bit more cautious when you make the kind of quick gut calculations about risks that the job requires. And that's only partly because I have a very personal interest in your safety. But I have never, ever thought you were incompetent. You impressed the hell out of me right from the start," Sam said adamantly.

He held up his hand to shush her, "And not just because you're hot," he grinned.

"You can't always read my mind, you know," she muttered, irritated.

"You're really gonna claim you weren't about to deflect what I was saying with a comment like that?" he asked, raising a brow.

"OK, fine. I was. But it's still annoying sometimes," she huffed. "So why did you agree to keep this whole thing secret from me then?" she demanded after a pause.

Sam sighed. "I didn't have a choice. My handler, Collins, demanded it as part of the deal we made."

"_Part_ of a deal? What, you mean there was something more than it being a condition for him doing it?" Andy said with a frown.

"See? That's why you're a great cop. You pick up on little details. Yes, there's more. A lot more. This is where I have a long story to tell. I'm not authorized to tell you any of it. In fact, I've been expressly forbidden to read you in on this, but I decided I was going to anyway. I needed to tell you before we took this relationship any further. I planned to take you to dinner. Rubin was going to let me use the table in his private VIP room, and I was going to tell you everything before our 3-day stretch started. I figured the private, but romantic setting would make you stick around and give me a chance to tell the whole tale," he shot a crooked grin her way. "Best laid plans."

"Sam…you're starting to freak me out! What is this all about?" Andy said, starting to panic again.

Sam took a deep breath, and then plunged in, "The Anton Hill case isn't closed. Collins had another cop undercover for over a year before he added me to the streets. Mickey is a badass who can stand that long a stint embedded in the Russian mafia, and she's been working her way up the management of his vice rackets. When she made a big leap up his organization, Collins recruited me to play a junkie to get intel and make sure her cover stayed solid. He also had me start building cases on Hill's dealers in case we needed to flip them instead of busting him with the info she was gathering. Emily was just a fluke connection I lucked into, not part of the original plan," he explained. "But Collins doesn't run C.I.s through the system either. I went in alone to try to get a confession out of him, but I actually did have a small plain clothes squad waiting to come in with a warrant if it didn't work. The reason I didn't answer your calls is because the phone was rigged with a high tech recorder. Anton's goons only took my guns and checked for a wire, but they never suspected that."

"So you mean I screwed that up too?" Andy said, depressed that her one big save seemed to be nothing but an illusion.

"No. I was getting nowhere with Hill. He wasn't saying anything that would be incriminating enough to convict him of squat, and he wasn't going to hand over Emily willingly. I wasn't even really sure he had Emily there, but I was about to have to resort to calling the team in to search for her anyway. If she hadn't been there, that would have sealed her death. And even if she was, having to do that meant we would have had him only on her kidnapping, assault, and whatever else we could get Emily to testify to. She was completely opposed to going into Witness Protection. Prosecutors hate basing things on reluctant witnesses, and we would probably only ended up getting him on petty things. But we would have had to do it to try to save Emily. It was better that you showed so we could get her out with the file trade and then bide our time for Mickey to find something better."

"OK, so what does the Boyko deal have to do with the ongoing case?" Andy said, lost.

"I'll get there. Mickey found out a few days later that it might be a good thing we never got the chance to set up the raid of the drug deal I'd heard about. She got wind that Hill had been toying with making a much, much bigger play, but then got spooked by the close call with me and the Emily thing. Collins decided that even though there might be extra danger of Hill being more paranoid, he wanted to keep her under to monitor developments to see if he would revive the plan after laying low for a while.

He wanted me to help him as a sort of back-up handler for her since I knew Hill's operation better than anyone except the two of them. He wanted it kept completely off the books and for me to appear to be somewhat disgraced and sent back to routine street duties nowhere near the drugs, vice, or organized crime units. We needed to make sure Hill thought it wasn't worth bothering putting a tail on me. Otherwise we'd have no hope of arranging safe ways for me to meet with her.

So we agreed that I'd stay on patrol as your permanent TO. He said he'd take care of Boyko if I agreed to work overtime as his wingman to help keep extra eyes on the operation. But only if I agreed to keep you in the dark. The idea was for it to look like I was on a sort of unofficial probation for a while. Collins is the smartest cop in the city. He's the go-to guy for every major op, and even the Pecks don't mess with him. They keep him happy because he's the best and he's not interested in their top jobs. I knew for sure he could make the Boyko thing happen without a ripple.

I also knew that he was concerned about my feelings for you, but not above using them as another reason for people to believe I was content and not pushing to be doing anything but training you and scowling at Callaghan. He's a genius at developing covers that people can pull off easily. But he was worried that you were a wildcard who could cause me to go off the rails in terms of the career path he wants for me. He knew before I did that I'd probably never agree to go undercover again. But he has his own agenda about grooming me to be a handler running UCs. He knows what you look like and he knows how to read me like a book. He still isn't quite over my screw-up getting outed and keeps making cryptic comments about Achilles getting sloppy over a woman too. I think he's really just wary of anyone that can get a rival hold on my soul," Sam smiled wryly.

"So I made my deal and put up with his occasionally annoying control freak tendencies because of the info Mickey turned up on what Anton was considering getting into. It's something none of us could tolerate getting a foothold in Toronto," Sam said bleakly.

"What could be worse than how he's already built his empire?" Andy said, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"He's planning to get in bed with the Zetas, one of the Mexican cartels, to supply him with kidnapped girls for the growing number of scumbag clients who like them young. Guess he's not satisfied with luring runaways into his clutches. They're planning a pipeline to import blow and sex slaves at the same time under the cover of chartered buses bringing visiting student groups for study abroad trips.

Andy, these are the guys who left a mass grave of hundreds of Central American migrants that you probably saw in the news. They rob them and steal their daughters before slaughtering them. We can't let a single bus get through or let those animals make a successful alliance with a Russian mobster like Hill," Sam was so agitated he jumped up and started pacing.

"My God!" Andy was completely shell-shocked by everything she was hearing. How could Sam have been working, even tangentially, on something this massive without her knowing it? She felt like she didn't know him at all any more.

"Mickey's close to finding out which border control agents they've got on their payroll to wave the buses through. And she's close to getting all the intel we need to intercept the first run, and implicate Anton in everything. Maybe even bust a couple of the cartel guys if we're lucky. It looks like things might start heating up within a month."

"Sam, how…How could you pull off juggling all of this without showing any stress?"

"Well, you're the one who said I always seemed impatient and irritated with the world. So I guess the stress must have showed a little," Sam attempted the weak joke. But he could see this news was hitting her with as much force as he knew it would.

He crouched down in front of her and took both her hands in his, "Andy, I know this is a lot to lay on you. But I didn't want there to be any secrets between us any more. I hated keeping it from you as long as I did, but that's part of being involved with under cover work. You have to take it seriously. You know I don't follow rules that aren't important, but I couldn't even consider breaking this rule about how things are done until we were starting get really seriously involved romantically. What I owed you as a partner wasn't enough to override the discipline you have to keep when you're working on something where the stakes are this high. You understand that that it had nothing to do with whether I trusted you, right?" he scanned her face anxiously. "It was all about my being able to be convincing playing a double role around people who know me well without slipping up. Frank is the only one at the 15 who knows about any of this, and even he doesn't know much. You understand?"

"I guess so. I just don't know how to react. Part of me feels I don't know you at all. That if you can keep a secret like this, I'll never really know you. I feel like I'm walking in quicksand and in way over my head," she confessed in a shaky voice.

"And the other part? Please tell me there's a part that still a part of you feels at home with me?"

"Well, that's not totally gone. But what I was going to say is the other part feels like I found out I just slept with Superman or Jack Bauer or Donnie Brasco or something," she gave a weak laugh, before adding, "You know, Luke would never have been able to keep his mouth shut and not brag about it to me if he was on a case this big, whether it would put Mickey at risk or not. You're really something. I don't know whether to run terrified or to tear off your clothes."

"What can I do to make you go for option two?" Sam flashed his best dimpled smile. He was going to fight for her with every weapon he had.

He turned serious and added, "I have to admit I wasn't entirely sure I was right when I said there would be more than one time no matter what we said later. But I will do anything to make this work. Whatever you need to adjust and feel comfortable. Just name it."

"Just hold me and tell me this isn't as crazy dangerous as it sounds," she said, tearing up at the mere thought of losing him now.

"I'm not the one on the front line any more," he tried to reassure her as he pulled her into his arms.

"What if one of Anton's guys spots you during a meet and realizes you're still going after him?" Andy asked anxiously.

"Collins does most of the meets with Mickey. She's the one who's at serious risk. The few times I have to do it, we have a ton of precautions in place to cover our tracks," Sam assured her.

"Like what?" she asked.

Sam sighed, "Promise you won't over react."

"Sam, I can't promise that. Just tell me. You said no more secrets," she reminded him.

"Monica helps. She's been an unpaid, off-the-book informant for Collins long before I ever met her. She had a sister who lost her life to addiction. Monica is on a mission to find out whether it was an accidental OD or whether one of her dealers killed her. She helps run a rehab center her family founded after her sister died. That's where I took Rubin to get him clean. Mickey takes some of Anton's girls there when they get too messed up. Monica and I were known to have a connection, so we decided to pretend my cover getting blown hadn't changed that. The clinic gives us perfect cover for Mickey and I to be in the same place when we need to without raising suspicions. Most times we get by with dead drops to pass messages rather than meeting in person."

Sam had felt Andy stiffen at the first mention of the other woman's name, and it didn't seem to lessen with the rest of his explanation. So he pulled back to look her in the eye, "Andy, I swear there hasn't been the least spark there in a long time. We only drifted into something while I was under cover because she's a workaholic who's too busy to meet anyone, and I didn't have a prayer of getting anyone but a low rent hooker to look twice at the kind of dirt bag junkie I was pretending to be. And even with a long, bleak months-long stretch staring me in the face, I would never go there. We were able to play it that she saw me as a pet project, and I was too clueless to realize I was chasing after someone out of my league. We managed to hook up occasionally without anyone catching on. I got a lot of my sources and leads through her clinic, and that was the extent of it.

Monica is a brilliant, driven woman. She's a big wheel at the hospital, keeps tabs on the rehab clinic, and also is running a separate animal research lab doing clinical trials. But she runs entirely on two emotions, guilt that her sister's chronic insecurity and envy of her led her into addiction and rage at drug dealers and pimps. She doesn't feel the least hesitation over the pain caused to her animal subjects. I'm no PETA type, but I found that a little unsettling. And she never expressed any desire for anything more than a convenient interlude here or there. She caught the attraction between you and I immediately, and cut things off. Which was a huge relief, because I was saved from having to tell her it was over. I think the only thing that attracted her to me was that I was trying to take down Anton and that I shared the experience of seeing a sister in pain. She was over me in less than a week."

"I'm not sure I buy that she got over you that quickly. I guess I can live with the fact that you still need to have contact with her occasionally. But I don't have to like it," Andy sniffed.

"Trust me, you have less to worry about than I do about the fact you run into Luke all the time at the barn. We had less going on in the first place, and I don't see her that much. My attention has been entirely occupied with you from the minute I met you."

"Clearly, not entirely occupied, after what you told me tonight, but I get your meaning. What was that you said earlier about working day and night to convince me? I think this slow kid is ready for another lesson," Andy smiled, deciding she was going to hold onto Sam regardless of how many bombshells he dropped on her. He thought he was going to need a lifetime to figure _her_ out? She was obviously just starting to scratch the surface of this man. But like Traci said, she was already in it. It was time to just strap in and go for the wild ride.

"I thought you'd never ask," Sam drawled, picking her up and striding toward the bedroom with an extra spring in his step as relief washed over him and the burden of secrecy finally melted away. He felt like they had finally navigated the last major barrier separating them.


	12. Chapter 12: Role Play

**Author's Note:**

Glad at least some of you are digging the wild turn I took with this story. Here comes the "complications ensue" follow-up to Sam's big reveal. Because, ya know, white whales don't go down easily. ;) Enjoy!

**Chapter 12: Role Play**

Sam groaned when the persistent ringing of his phone disrupted his contented late morning sleep. He carefully disentangled himself from Andy so he could reach it and cut off the offending noise.

"Yeah," he said groggily.

"It's Collins. I need you to cover an emergency meet with Mickey. She sent the urgent code, and I'm a couple hours out of town," Collins said tersely.

"What do you think happened? Why would Mickey need to meet on short notice?" Sam asked, sitting up as adrenaline already starting to pump through him.

"Nothing good, I'm sure. Hill might have moved the timeframe up. Mickey had a feeling he might last time she reported to me," Collins speculated.

"Then what the hell are you doing so far away?" Sam asked, annoyed.

"Shit, I know. I was with the ex. I had a shot at patching things up with her, and I took it. Figures that asshole Hill would find a way to screw it up," Collins muttered.

"Can we even count on Monica being able to be at the clinic for cover?" Sam asked, the wheels in his head spinning quickly now.

"I'm ahead of you on Monica. She's already on her way over there. Can you make it in 45 minutes? Mickey will be there in about an hour with a couple girls who went on quite a bender last night."

Sam sighed, "Yeah, I'm on my way. You just get your own ass back here in case this turns out to be something worse…"

"Don't say it, Swarek," Collins cut him off. "She wouldn't agree to a meet at the clinic if she thought he was on to her. And I'm already on the way. I'm calling from the road. Call me as soon as you've met with her."

Sam looked over and met Andy's worried stare. _Great. _The last few days had been almost an idyllic honeymoon phase for them. Now their third day off looked like it was going to be completely swallowed up by the Hill case. He could sense her fear even as she struggled not to let it show. The understanding smile she sent him, faltered before she could pull it off.

"I'm sorry. I have to meet Mickey right away. Try not to worry too much. This shouldn't be dangerous. At least I hope it won't be, for her sake," Sam gave Andy a quick reassuring kiss and launched himself off the bed to run for a quick shower. "I love you," he added over his shoulder.

* * *

Sam arrived at the clinic on time. He spotted Monica's car in the lot. So far, so good. He stepped out of the truck and spotted Anton's town car parked down the block. _Shit! _That was not a good sign. Why would Anton himself be watching the clinic if he wasn't suspicious? Sam sat back down to call Monica, pretending to be fussing with the cheap floral bouquet he'd grabbed from a street vendor on the way.

"It's Sam. Hill's car is parked down the street. But it's too late to call this off now. We need to get the info Mickey's bringing and pull her out. Come out front to meet me. Give me a hard time loudly about coming around here and spooking your lawbreaking clients. But don't over do it. And try not to get mad at anything else I do, OK? He needs to think we're still hot and heavy."

"OK. Sam, this is not a good…" Monica said in a panicky voice.

"I know. Maybe if we're convincing, it will kill his suspicions. Or at least give us enough time to smuggle Mickey out the back. Keep your phone in hand to explain how you know I'm coming and just follow my lead after you bust my balls a bit, OK?"

"OK. I'm watching for you right now."

Sam kept the phone to his ear until he was nearly at the front door. He made a show of putting a swagger into his walk.

Monica walked out shaking her head at him. "Sam, how many times do I have to tell you that cops make the patients nervous? Is this the only time you could get away from your bombshell partner or something? I'm already getting tired of being the other woman," she pouted, eyes flashing with jealousy that looked plenty real to Sam. He winced, wishing she'd skipped any ad libs dragging Andy into this. But he went with it.

He laughed, "What's with the act? You and I both know you get off on being the secret mistress. You're the one who doesn't want a real relationship with a cop. And you're more worried about what the surgeons and research backers you work with would think than you are that any of your addicts will bat an eye at an off-duty cop coming around to get busy with you," he made a big show of jerking her to him roughly and kissing her deeply, before backing her into the clinic.

"Sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I really didn't want to have to do that. Let's go to your office and work up a plan," he added.

~~~~0~~~~

Traci's jaw dropped. Noelle just shook her head. Neither could believe what they had just seen. Sam and Andy had been almost disgustingly happy their last couple days at work before they'd disappeared for their days off. Now Traci and Noelle finish dropping off a pregnant addict to the clinic for their paid community service day…and find Sam trotting up to his old squeeze and sticking his tongue down her throat? They'd only seen him kiss someone like that once, when he'd swept Andy off her feet at the Penny just days ago.

"Damn, how many women is Dimples making go all weak in the knees?" Noelle said with disgust.

"So you just saw that too? I can't believe my own eyes. Jerry and I were just out with them a few nights ago, and he seemed completely head over heels for Andy. What a scumbag!" Traci said, getting more furious for her friend by the second. "I want to stick around and give him a piece of my mind. You up for that?" Traci asked Noelle.

"Yeah, sure. Why not? He deserves someone to get in his face. Dumbass! He's been mooning around about McNally for how long now? And he pulls something like this as soon as he gets her? I swear I'll never understand men. I always thought Sammy was one of the good ones under the tough guy act." Noelle said, depressed.

Traci couldn't resist venting with one tweet while the waited.

Traci: Sam Swarek = DOUCHE. BAG. #justsayin #don'task

~~~~0~~~~

"How long since Collins had a crew sweep this place for bugs?" Sam whispered in Monica's ear as they headed down the hall.

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head, signaling it had been far too long.

Sam closed his eyes and let out a frustrated groan. He ushered her into her office and whispered, "Assume a bug then. Follow my lead."

"Come here," he said aloud as he shut the door. "I don't have long today," he rolled his eyes at her and tried to get her in the spirit to have fun with this.

"You think I have all day for you either?" Monica shot back, not having to fake the irritation as she plopped down behind her desk. "If we're going to do this, let's get to it."

Sam grinned and picked up a pair of scrubs bunched them up in his hands and tore them loudly.

"Sam!" Monica gasped, having to work hard to let only a small giggle escape. "You're lucky I have an extra set of clothes here."

Sam laughed, "Of course you do. After you had to walk out in scrubs last time, I figured you'd be prepared."

"Shut up and get naked before I decide you're not worth the damage you do to my wardrobe," Monica demanded, winking to let him know she was starting to enjoy the game, even if it skirted close to old times. She moved over to her little love seat and used her legs to rhythmically push it thumping against the wall.

Sam just shook his head as she also put on quite a vocal performance faking that he'd done his best to make it worth it. Afterward, he walked over, flopped down next to her and whispered, "Congrats, now I'm wondering how many times you faked it before."

Monica shrugged, "Bonus points for me. You deserve it after going and falling for someone else," she whispered in return.

Aloud he said, "So are you OK with my coming around here now? Where else can we do this without anyone but some addicts being the wiser?"

"Stop using that tone when you talk about my patients. You know it bothers me. You'd think spending time on the street would have taught you a little more compassion," she said, again with genuine irritation, even though she knew he was playing a role. "I don't know why I kept seeing you after I found out who you are. You cops are all so judgmental."

"You see me for the same reason you always have…because I don't demand much time from your busy schedule and nobody else fucks you like that," Sam blurted out with a little too much edge. As usual, Monica's love/hate attitude toward cops that generated many a snotty comment got under his skin and he'd taken the asshole cheater routine a bit too far. Even though they had always been more 'frenemies with benefits' than anything else, she looked hurt and pissed off at a dig that hit too close to home.

Sam held up his hands in surrender and mouthed '_I'm sorry' _silently.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be too sure about that. You're not the only one who has other options, Swarek. In fact, I have a hot date for a fundraising gala tonight, and plenty of work to do here first. So why don't you run along and let me get back to the other items on my schedule," she said coldly, standing to open the blinds to her office window. She motioned to point out Mickey coming up the walk with two girls in tow.

_Shit! _Sam saw Anton get out of his car to follow Mickey into the clinic. He shot one last apologetic look at Monica and mouthed _'thank you' _before bolting toward the front entrance. His chances of getting Mickey out just got a lot worse. Time to improvise.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Devil's Dominatrix," Sam sneered, blocking Mickey's path from following the two girls into the clinic while they managed a surreptitious hand-off of a thumb drive and handwritten note.

"It's tonight. Eleven," she whispered quickly.

"Brought a couple more of the souls you've burned out?" Sam continued to taunt her, placing his hands on hips and allowing the tiny package to drop into a front pocket. He looked over her shoulder at Anton with a raised brow, "And the big man deigned to drop by too? Since when did you bother yourself with any of the girls turning tricks for you, Anton?"

"I do more for the runaways than most people in this city. At least I don't leave them to starve or get raped in some alley," Anton said evenly, watching the interaction between Sam and Mickey closely.

"Yeah, you're a regular humanitarian, Hill," Sam said with a bark of derisive laughter.

"What I'm wondering is what _you're_ doing here? Picked up a bad habit while you were playing your futile little game on the street?" Hill taunted idly before going for the real jab. "No, I guess you're here for something else. I think you're more like me than you want to admit."

Sam snorted, "How do you figure that?"

"I think when it comes to women, one's not enough, but you're not satisfied with easy conquests either. You have a taste for taming the strong ones. Like the smart, pretty blonde who runs this place and that sexy partner of yours that came along last time we met." He eyed Sam closely before adding, "Just like I have a thing for Mischa here." Anton stepped forward to place a menacing arm around Mickey.

Shock and disgust flared in Sam's eyes before he recovered, "Well, who else are you going to turn to besides someone who's on your payroll one way or another? Good looks and charm aren't exactly your strong suit. And you know nothing about my sex life. This must be a foreign concept to someone who runs as many street pimps as you, but women aren't horses to be tamed, Anton. And none of the women who have interested me are _anything_ like the mistress of misery who terrorizes all the poor girls who wind up in your clutches," Sam motioned derisively at Mickey.

"Really? Well, then maybe the cop with the hero complex doesn't really have feet of clay." He narrowed his eyes as he regarded Sam thoughtfully, "Maybe keeping tabs on Mischa's moves is the real reason you've been sniffing around your little blondie's clinic?" Anton speculated. "She's too valuable to me to take a chance of you getting your hooks into her. So I came by to pick her up myself."

Mickey had been shooting alarmed looks at Sam, but now she put on her tough street act, "Don't let this pathetic little cop worry you, Anton. I have my car, and I would spit in this pig's face if he were dumb enough to try to poke his nose in my business," she objected, looking at Sam with contempt.

"I insist," Anton said in the low menacing voice that made most of his lieutenants break into cold sweats. Mickey shot Sam a panicked look before Anton pulled her away with him.

Sam tensed to stop him, then realized it was hopeless to try with his two armed body guards flanking him and sending clearly aggressive body language his way.

When they reached the town car, Anton ordered 'Mischa' to give her car keys to one of his personal bodyguards. When she complied and stepped into the town car, he pulled the man aside and issued instructions quietly, "Something doesn't smell right. Drive around the block. When you're sure Swarek is gone, grab the blonde. Then get some help and go find his brunette partner. Bring them both to the restaurant. It seems he didn't just slink back to writing traffic tickets with his tail between his legs. I think he's tried to turn her," he nodded toward Mickey. "The question is whether he had any success. We need some extra leverage to find out how much he knows, and it looks to me like women are Swarek's Achilles Heel. If I'm right, he'll come to us on my terms."

~~~0~~~

**AN:** …and cliffhanger, bitches! LOL, kidding. What I really wan to say is please don't hate me too much for the Monica stuff. ;)


	13. Chapter 13: All Hands on Deck

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for the enthusiasm. This doesn't exactly resolve the cliff hanger. But it's at least something to tide you over while I get all the details worked out. Enjoy!

**Chapter 13: All Hands on Deck**

The second Sam decided he couldn't get Mickey away from Anton, he started to jog back toward his truck, hitting Collins' speed dial as he went. His head was spinning as he tried desperately to calculate what his next move should be.

He looked up and finally recognized Williams and Nash dressed in street clothes, leaning against the hood of his truck. _Fantastic! Finally, he'd caught a break_. A relieved smile chased the sheer panic from his face, "Thank God!" he breathed, before noticing the furious glares they were sending his way. Noelle was starting to look more puzzled than pissed off, but she still hit him with an angry, "What the hell are you playing at, Swarek?"

Traci hadn't caught on to anything. "Manslut!" she ground out while taking a swing at him, aiming to hit him more literally.

He ducked back out of range, and said, "Easy slugger, it's not what you think."

Noelle put a restraining hand on Traci and asked, "Is that who I think it is with his goons?"

"Yeah, it's Hill. And the woman with him is one of Collins' people. His best person, actually. But Hill just got very suspicious. If her cover isn't blown, he probably thinks she might be ratting him out to me. It's good you're not in uniform. You have an unmarked car, right?" Sam rattled off rapid fire.

Noelle nodded, instantly getting how serious the situation was. She was well aware of Collins' reputation for running the biggest cases.

"Good. You have a gun?" he asked.

"Yes, a small one in an ankle holster. We were doing sweeps of the homeless in some rough neighborhoods with EMTs. Trying not to spook those we were helping with unis and visible guns," Noelle replied.

"Good enough. I need you two to tail Hill. It's better if he doesn't spot you, but you CANNOT lose him! We need to know exactly where he's taking Mickey in case Collins decides we need to send a team in to raid the place and get her out. Nash, call Frank right now and ask him to send two plainclothes units to back you up. Tell him to keep this off the dispatch radio. Hill is bound to have some moles we don't know about. Just monitor what goes on closely. Call me with the location, and take notes on anyone and anything going in and out of wherever they end up. Even after back-up arrives, do NOT go in unless you hear shots fired. At least not unless Collins orders you in directly. Got it?"

"We're on it," Noelle assured him.

"Thanks!" Sam clapped her on the shoulder. "I owe you, and I'll explain everything later. Right now, I have to get the info she managed to pass me to Collins ASAP. There's a huge shit storm about to break tonight, and we're not ready." Sam glanced nervously down the block toward where Mickey had disappeared into Anton's car, "Hurry, it looks like they're getting ready to take off."

Noelle and Traci jumped in their car and followed Anton's car after it pulled out.

Sam turned his attention back to the phone. "Did you catch any of that?"

"Some. I made it to the war room. Come over now, and start filling me in on the way. Sounds like we have a potential cluster fuck on our hands," Collins said.

"You might say that. We've got several _major_ problems. Hill was here when I arrived. Mickey was able to tell me the first tour bus is crossing over tonight at eleven, not in a few weeks."

"Christ! I'm scrambling the team we've been assembling as we speak then. But go on."

Sam could hear him madly typing away at his computer keyboard. "Better get that judge who hands you warrants like candy to get ready to authorize some phone taps too. Mickey also managed to pass me a thumb drive, and I have a feeling that if she risked copying files, it might be proof of who his dirty Border Patrol and other moles are. She's a great hacker, but she must have done something to make Hill suspicious all of a sudden without her realizing it or he wouldn't have come to see what she was up to. I'm almost positive he didn't see her pass me anything, but I don't think he bought that my being there was just a matter of coincidence for a horny guy. He suspects something. Who knows what he might do about changing plans again. Or whether he'll lean on Mickey hard to find out whether she's become my rat. I don't think he suspects she's a cop, but even that's possible."

"This just keeps getting better," Collins said darkly.

"Listen, there's one more thing that's the icing on the cake. But I want you to promise me this is off the record," Sam said uncomfortably.

"Let's not worry about formalities at a time like this, Swarek. I need to know everything," Collins said impatiently.

"I need you to promise me for Mickey's sake," Sam insisted.

"Fine," Collins sighed. "It's off the record."

"When Hill and I were confronting each other, he implied that Mickey's been sleeping with him. I couldn't tell if he was just playing with my head, trying to throw me to get a read on my reaction. Do you think it's possible she really went that far to get into his inner circle near the top of his vice rackets?" Sam asked, again feeling sick at the thought.

Collins sighed, "I don't think so, but who knows? I never pushed her to do anything like that, if that's what you're asking," he added defensively.

"Easy. I'm not accusing you. But you have to admit you pushed her to stay in this extremely high-pressure position for a hell of a long time. I can't imagine how she pulled it off this long. I'm trying not to judge her, but if Hill has been screwing her, or wants to, that affects how he might play things today. I'm just not sure if it makes her immediate situation better or worse.

Two patrol officers from Division 15 happened to be doing a community service day run at the clinic when all this went down. I had them tail Hill so we'd know where he's taking her while I head over to meet you. We have to figure out what to do about Mickey. I couldn't get her away from Hill. His two goons who were packing heat were right there when he insisted she leave with him. If I'd made a useless attempt, it would only have confirmed his suspicions. So I had to just stand there and let him walk away with her. That was the hardest thing I've ever done on this job. We have to figure out a way to get her away from him," Sam said, tightening his death grip on the steering wheel even further.

"Take a breath Sammy and just get over here. You made the right call. There was nothing else you could do. Keep your focus on what needs to be done next. I'm going to hang up and we'll talk more when you get here," Collins said, already switching mentally to the next task at hand himself.


	14. Chapter 14: I Will Always Come after You

**Author's Note:**

And the plot thickens. Still a ways to go to reach full resolution, but we're getting closer. Thanks to all of you who have hung with me on this.

Couldn't find anything about what location they used for Anton's bar or restaurant or whatever on any RB websites, but the magic google machine did help me find a real Russian restaurant in Toronto that really is located at the Moscow Sauna Club at the address below. It looks like quite a sleazy place, so it seemed a pretty good fit for Anton Hill. ;)

**Chapter 14: I Will Always Come after You**

Sam tried to call Andy as he pulled into the lot where Collins had his Anton Hill "war room." She didn't pick up, so he left a short message letting her know that he'd be tied up for the rest of the day.

Before he had too much time to wonder at the fact that she'd let the phone out of her sight when he knew she was worried, he saw an incoming call from Nash. "We have a location. A place called Sudar. Noelle thinks it's Anton's restaurant? 1027 Finch Ave. West. You know it?" Traci asked.

Sam gave a short laugh, "Yeah, I've been there." He could hear Noelle snort, "Figures this guy would have a restaurant next to the Moscow Sauna Club."

"That's his too," Sam said. "They're connected. Works well for skirting prostitution busts. Great work staying on him. Can you sit tight and monitor things for a couple hours? Is back-up there yet?"

"Just arrived," Traci confirmed.

"Great. Call me if there's any major activity. I'm just walking in to start figuring out some sort of plan with Collins. We'll give you a heads up if anything is heading your way from our end. Thanks again for helping us out of a jamb," Sam said, about to hang up.

"Sam, wait….There's something I need to tell you," Traci stopped him nervously.

"Spit it out Nash. I really gotta go," Sam prompted impatiently. Now wasn't the time for apologies.

"When I saw you kissing Monica, I sent a quick tweet calling you a douche bag. Andy saw it and called me to ask if I'd seen you. She got the story out of me…."

"_What?_ You told her about that over the phone? Jesus, Nash, even if that wasn't just an act for Anton's benefit, if you're going to tell a best friend news like that, you wait and do it in person. This is the last thing I need to deal with right now. No wonder she didn't pick up my call," Sam groaned.

"I didn't want to tell her, but she wouldn't let me put her off. She must have known you were up to something this morning because she wanted every last detail of what I'd seen. I'm sorry, Sam. I played down the kiss as much as I could," Traci said miserably.

Sam sighed, "Look, forget it for now. She'll be fine when I explain the whole story. It just looks like it's going to be a while before I can get away to see her and put her mind to ease. I'll talk to you later."

* * *

"So where are we so far?" Sam asked Collins.

"I scrambled SWAT's Hostage Response Team to stand by. They're positioning their van a few blocks from Sudar to stand by in case we need them. Give me Mickey's thumb drive and I'll have Nichols and the techies start scanning through it to see what she got for us," Collins replied. "You and I will sit down and game out our options about Mickey."

They were about a half hour into going over exactly what had happened at the clinic again, trying to guess what Anton knew and what his next move would be, when Sam's phone rang. Seeing Andy's caller ID, he told Collins he needed to take it, and rose to walk a couple paces away before answering.

"Andy, I'm glad you called…" he started.

"No, but she's right here having a little chat with me and your other little girlfriend," Anton's voice came over the line, instantly sending ice through Sam's veins.

"_Hill? What the hell kind of game are you playing? _Why would Andy and Monica have anything the say to you?" Sam spun back around to face Collins, panic already showing in his eyes. He should have known there had to be some other reason Andy didn't answer earlier. Anton must be desperate to make a play like this.

"I'm more of a humanitarian than you think. I couldn't bear the way you were abusing the trust of two such beautiful women. I have a little piece of information I wanted to share with your lovely partner," Anton said in an oily tone. Sam could hear a tape of the bugged recording of he and Monica from this morning begin to play in the background. He closed his eyes on a wince at the thought of Andy having to hear this, with Anton and Monica in the room.

Fortunately, Anton's sadistic streak outstripped his common sense, because he'd handed Andy the phone so Sam could hear her reaction. He heard her whimper a heartbreaking, "No…" before he broke in with an urgent low tone.

"Andy, listen. It was fake. We thought there was a bug. I'm sorry, but you have to keep pretending you think it's real. Hang in there. Whatever his plan, I'm going to get you out of there. Remember I said that I will always come for you. And I will. I promise. I love you."

Andy seemed to rally quickly, "Oh God, Sam! How could you!"

Anton grabbed the phone back, "I believe both these beauties have had it with you Swarek. I've made them a generous offer they can't refuse to help them get over the pain you caused. It so happens that I have some new business associates who are eager to offer them the chance to take a trip to a tropical location where they'll have a chance to be the ones with multiple Latin lovers for a change," he paused. "That is, unless you want to come down here and convince all of us that we're being too hasty in judging your recent actions."

"What exactly do you want from me, you bastard?" Sam ground out.

"I take that you get my meaning. I want you to come join us at Sudar. We'll have a little chat and clear up any misunderstandings. But you come alone. And no heroics or Rambo syndrome from you or you two lovely ladies won't be in any condition to forgive or take a vacation. You've got one hour to decide and get down here before I send them off to meet their tropical hosts. Don't disappoint me," Anton warned.

"Listen to me, you piece of shit. I'll do what you want, but you better be bluffing about trying any such thing with either of them. You do _anything _to them, and you'll wish you only had Rambo to deal with after I get my hands on you," Sam snapped the phone closed after the line went dead.

_Shit! _Sam punched his fist through the wall up to his elbow and stalked into the hall to take a few deep breaths so he could fill Collins in without puking all over his shoes. He splashed cold water on his face and forced the rage down to be replaced with an icy focus.

He walked back into the room long enough to ask Collins, "Can we have a word in private," before walking back out. The team that had been scrambling madly was frozen with jaws gaping. As Collins ordered them back to work before turning to follow, Nichols stopped him.

"You're not keeping him on this after that?" he asked, stunned by Collins' calm reaction.

"Probably. I'm going to hear him out anyway," he replied evenly.

"You can't be serious! He's out of control already," Nichols objected.

"He may be our only chance. Besides, he's not that out of control. He punched the wall with his left hand, didn't he?" Collins winked at his second in command. "If the man can protect his trigger finger in the heat of the moment, he can get himself together enough to do what needs to be done. Relax, I know how to keep him centered."

~~~~0~~~~

"So, what exactly did Anton say?" Collins asked, keeping his tone even to encourage the icy calm that had taken over from Sam's first hot headed response.

"He picked up both Andy and Monica," Sam started.

Collins just nodded. He'd gathered that much.

"He played the tape of the two of us faking sex because we suspected a bug. Thanks for dropping the ball on keeping that place swept clean, by the way. It's your damn fault Andy had to listen to that," Sam said throwing an angry glance in Collins' direction.

"Then he used some cockamamie story about helping them drown their sorrows with his 'new partners' in a tropical location as a way to indirectly threaten to hand them over as playthings for the Zetas. I suppose that's his twisted idea of a gift to seal their new business deal. Anyway, he said he'd give me a chance to 'convince him he's being hasty' if I come in alone to talk to him within the hour."

"Christ! Sam…"

"I _think_ he's just bluffing, threatening something that would make me freak out like nothing else. But I'm not taking any chances. I'm going to do exactly what he's asking. But I'm not dumb enough to trust him as far as I can throw him. So we have to figure a way to get the HRT team to back me up, just in case his angle isn't just to bluff me into coming in so he can pump me for information. Can we smuggle a sniper in the building after me?" Sam asked.

Collins sighed, "Maybe. It would definitely be risky, but we may be able to take down his guards quietly and smuggle him up to that balcony area inside. But who knows what Hill will have going on in there. We don't have eyes on the interior yet. We'll be flying blind."

"It's less risky than just sending the HRT team in hard to try to extract them and Mickey," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah. It does seem to be the best of out pool of shitty options. OK, Swarek. It's a good thing you're about the best bullshitter around. Even if the best case scenario holds, and Hill actually honors a trade of them for you, you might have to bluff your way through giving up some phony intel. And if so, you'll have to decide whether he buys you do it easily because you have little conscience. Or whether he only buys it after roughing you up a little first. You sure you're ready to do that?" Collins asked. "You have your head together under the circumstances?"

"I'll be ready to play games with Hill if he's actually on the up and up. But I want to be able to signal our shooter if he tries to screw me, especially if he tries to get to me through them. I wasn't kidding. If he pulls something like that, I want him to be a dead man, one way or another."

"Sammy, all I can do is give shoot to kill authority to the sharp shooter if the situation turns life threatening. For any other contingency, he shoots to disable or calls the rest of the team in. You know how this works," Collins let him know that he'd only give him so much leeway for payback.

"Yeah. And Hill actually keeps his word sometimes. He hasn't gone after Emily. I just hope to God, this is one of them," Sam said fervently.

"OK. We don't have a lot of time, so let me call HRT and get them started planning. Then you and I will figure out what false info we want you to pass along should it go that way. We may even be able to keep him from calling the bus crossing off for tonight."

When Sam shot him a dirty look, he held up his hands, "It's my second priority now too, Swarek. But fifty young girls…I'd like to get them free tonight, if we still can. So don't forget who's still in charge here," Collins warned.


	15. Chapter 15: Showdown

_**Author's Note:**_

_OK, the big showdown between Sam and his white whale is finally here. I think I'm basically happy with how it turned out, but I'm dying to hear what you all think. Hopefully, it won't disappoint. Probably just an Epilogue after this. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 15: Showdown**

"OK. All we can supply you with is the same phone recorder you used before, in case you get him to say anything incriminating, and an earpiece so we can try to let you know if and when the shooter makes it into place. They may discover the earpiece, though. So there's no guarantee you'll have even that much link to what we're doing." Collins asked Sam one last time, "You got the hand signal for a kill shot in case you catch an imminent threat he can't detect? Good. I guess that's all the prep we can give you."

"I'm ready. Let's just hope he still thinks I'm off chasing his tail on my own and doesn't smell a larger threat. That might mean he thinks he can pump me for information and get me to back off with a few threats sufficient to get him off the hook for kidnapping charges. Hopefully, as far as he knows that's basically what happened before with Emily," Sam tried to keep his fear in check by focusing on the most hopeful scenario. He couldn't afford to contemplate darker fates for the women Anton had gone after or fear would paralyze him.

"We have no reason to think he suspects more. Or at least he must not be sure he's got more than that to worry about or he would be unlikely to make a play like this. It also probably means he doesn't suspect Mickey is a cop, or he'd be focused on working her over instead of taking a risk to take it out of your hide to find out what he wants to know," Collins tried to reassure Sam by repeating the consensus they'd reached.

"So just stick to the goal of getting at least the two hostages out and gathering as much information as you can about Mickey's status. Plant the false information we went over if you can. Hopefully, that will convince him we're not onto the tour bus crossing tonight. Just don't take too many risks sparring with him no matter how pissed off you get. He's unpredictable and may not be as willing to let you walk away from him in one piece a second time. You'll eventually get the last laugh when we nail this bastard. Don't provoke him prematurely," Collins warned.

* * *

Sam took a deep steadying breath and stepped through Sudar's front door. Anton's two body guards frisked him before leading him into the bar area and returning to their post in the front atrium.

His eyes swept the room quickly and found it empty except for Anton, Andy and Monica. A muscle twitched in his cheek when he noted the women's arms were tied to the chairs they were seated in near the dimly lit back of the room.

"I see your definition of a humanitarian streak runs true to form. You really needed to tie them up to offer your 'assistance' for dealing with my shortcomings? And what's up with the cryptic talk about new partners? You think I care where you get your heroin? Not exactly my jurisdiction. What is it you're playing at here?" Sam asked, eyeing Anton quizzically. "You're not usually so reckless. These two aren't exactly a former street kid like Emily."

"I want to know what game it is that_ you've_ been playing. I don't think your desire to carry on with both of these women was the only thing bringing you around her clinic," Anton nodded toward Monica. "When I cut a deal with you for the safety of a woman the first time, I considered it to include more than not using those files. You should have turned your interest to a lower class of criminal. So this time you're going to come clean, and we're going to come to a new agreement. Or these women who mean even more to you are going to meet a most unpleasant fate," Anton said in a menacing tone.

"You and I can make a new and more explicit deal. But I'm not talking about anything until you let them walk out of here," Sam insisted.

Anton laughed, "I don't think so. I don't trust you to tell me what I want to know without some immediate emotional incentive. You walked in here unarmed. I think you mistake who has the leverage now to set the terms for our discussion."

"I'm really not sure what has you so spooked, Anton. But do you want any information from me or not? Because you're not going to get it until they're out of here," Sam insisted again, crossing his arms in a stubborn posture.

"Alright, I guess we do this the hard way," Anton pulled two guns, one aimed at the back of each woman's head. "We're going to play my version of Russian roulette meets the wisdom of Solomon. Pick which one you want to leave or I put a bullet in both of them."

"No. Forget your games. They both leave before I talk. I'm not choosing," Sam tried to hold out.

"Oh you'll do it alright. I don't share your softness when it comes to women, as you well know. Now choose," Anton ground out, cocking the pistols.

Sam narrowed his eyes trying to judge Anton's motives, and what his next move would be if he played along. Unwilling to either fully call his bluff or trust him, Sam finally slumped his shoulders in defeat and looked down to the floor for a moment as he heard word in his ear that the sniper had entered the building and was in place. He looked up and let an ocean of regret show in his eyes, while appearing to take Hill at his word.

Sam finally sighed, "Fine. You win." He added woodenly, "They don't say gentlemen prefer blondes for nothing."

Anton raised a brow, "Still chasing the one out of your league? Well, I was rather fond of her sister, so I can't say I blame you."

Monica let out a strangled cry of protest at hearing the man she loathed most bring up her sister.

Anton lowered the gun in his left hand that had been pointed at Andy, "So your blonde preference stays."

Sam let out a relieved breath that he'd anticipated correctly, before quickly feigning shock and anger, "_What the hell?_ Why should I trust you about anything if you're going to pull something like that?" he demanded.

Anton just shrugged, "I never said I'd let your choice leave. I just said that if you didn't identify her, I'd shoot them both. I only need one hostage to provide proper incentive for your cooperation. I just wanted to make sure I kept the right one," he flashed a menacing smile. "If I don't get full cooperation, two murders are easier to cover than three."

"Mischa!" he called. When she stepped out of the shadows behind him, he instructed, "Cut the brunette loose and escort her out please. And Miss McNally, if you mention any of this to _anyone_, it won't just be you who is dead or shipped off to spend time with some of my less civilized business partners. It will be every family member and friend you're close to as well. So don't even think of raising the cavalry to come rescue the man who just betrayed you or the woman who clearly has more of his affections."

Mickey stepped forward to follow Anton's instructions. But as she drew even with him, she instead plunged the knife in his neck with one arm while grabbing the arm holding the gun. She managed to move it far enough before he squeezed the trigger with his last burst of strength that the shot only grazed Monica's right shoulder. Anton collapsed to the ground, and Mickey quickly disarmed him and restrained him while applying pressure to the blood gushing from his wound.

Seeing that she had him under control, Sam bolted forward to Andy and said urgently, "I didn't choose her. I knew he'd keep whoever I wanted released. Are you OK? He didn't hurt you before I arrived?" he asked urgently, frantically removing the restraints still binding her arms.

"No, he didn't hurt us. I'm fine. Go check Monica's wound," Andy urged, unaware of the tears of relief streaming down her face.

Sam reluctantly left her side and went to free Monica. He stripped off his shirt to apply pressure to her arm to stop the bleeding. "Are you OK?" he asked anxiously.

"Yeah," she replied shakily. "It's just a flesh wound. I can keep enough pressure on it myself. You can go back and reassure her some more that you didn't really mean that. I'll be fine," she sent him a shaky smile. "Go on. Don't let that filthy scumbag's tricks ruin your chances with her."

As soon as Sam gave her a last concerned glance, before turning to head back to Andy, Monica leapt to her feet and started screaming at Anton. Catching Mickey off guard, she landed several hard kicks to his gut before Mickey and Sam could drag her still frantically kicking body away from the prone bleeding man.

"What do you know about my sister?" Monica screamed. "Did you kill her? Tell me, you bastard!" she finally went limp and starting sobbing uncontrollably. "Tell me what you know about how she died."

"Barker," Anton said on a choking breath. "I was going to feed him to my pigs myself when I found out she bought his poison," he gasped before passing out.

The HRT team swarmed in. Sam diverted his attention long enough to tell them, "Someone get pressure on his wound. Get your team's medic to treat him until the EMTs arrive."

He turned back to find Monica collapsing to the floor, grasping Mickey's forearms, "What was my sister to him? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I'm sorry. I never knew. Anton often pursued pretty addicts from prominent families who finally took a tough love approach and cut them off from their money. Your sister would have been his type. He probably did pursue her, but I don't think she ever got involved with him. If she had, she would have never have needed to buy from a bottom feeding dealer like Barker. Monica, I swear I never heard Anton mention Melissa's name or I would have told you. He was too busy putting the moves on me to ever mention the one who got away. I'm sure what happened to her was a blow to his ego all around."

Sam put a hand on Mickey's shoulder, "Mickey…you didn't have to…"

"No Sam. I managed to lead Anton on for a long time by pretending to be a lesbian. Men like him don't believe there's such a thing as a lesbian who can't be converted eventually." She shrugged, "It allowed me to take advantage of his interest without ever having to actually sleep with the devil. Thanks for coming in here today. I know it was mostly for them, but it took the pressure off me like no one else could. Anton didn't want to squeeze me hard in case I hadn't sold him out by passing along any real information. But if you hadn't taken the bait, he wouldn't have had a choice. He couldn't risk having a rat that high in his organization just when he was striking an alliance with the Zetas."

"Mickey, you're the bravest cop I've ever seen. If you hadn't taken him down, we would have had to have a sniper take a shot at him. And who knows if he would have squeezed off a more accurate shot before going down. Monica could be in much worse shape if you hadn't taken advantage of the fact that Hill underestimated you," Sam gave her shoulder one more squeeze before turning to pull Monica into a hug.

"Hey, I'm sorry you had to hear that scum speak about Melissa. But at least you know now. You know it wasn't a suicide or a murder. She just made a desperate mistake and bought from the wrong dealer. It's time for you to find some peace and start really living your own life now. I don't want you to look back and have regrets that you never made time for yourself. Take some time off to heal both physically and mentally. OK?" Sam pulled back and eyed her with concern.

Monica nodded, struggling to control the emotion enough to speak. "Thanks. I think you may be right. Actually, I've been meaning to tell you…the date I was supposed to have tonight?" she paused and looked at him nervously. "It's with Luke Callaghan. I started flirting with him after I gave him the information about the bullet in Bennie's head. At first, it was to get back at Andy, and there wasn't really anything to it. But in the last couple weeks since he got over being dumped by her, we've really started to hit it off. The two of us run at the same speed. You and Andy need the full Romeo & Juliet, all-or-nothing kind of relationship. Luke and I are more like cats. We like a little space and independence. Go to Andy now. She needs you too. But will you break the news to her for me? I think she probably already hates me enough," Monica sighed.

"Sure," Sam gave her a last careful squeeze before passing Monica off to Mickey and the HRT medic who had been replaced by the EMTs rushing Anton off to the ER. He strode the short distance to where Andy stood staring with wide shell-shocked eyes at all the overwhelming activity buzzing around her. Sam ran anxious hands over her head, neck, arms to try to finally convince himself she was really all in one piece. He pulled her into a crushing embrace as a shudder wracked his whole body. The adrenaline was finally starting to ebb and the fear he'd held at bay rushed in to replace the iron control he'd needed to hold himself together.

"It's OK," Andy murmured over and over. "I'm OK. But Sam, you have to calm down. A wise man once told me I'm no China doll, but you need to ease up or you're going to break my ribs," she said with a shaky laugh.

"Oh God, I'm sorry. I didn't even realize what I'm doing. I've never been so afraid something might go wrong in my life. I can't believe I didn't realize you were in danger. I should have known…"

"Shh. How could you have predicted Anton would come after us? You already had enough crises on your hands. Besides, you knew what I needed to hear to stay calm, and you came for me just like you promised. You told me this once, and I'm telling you now. You did everything right today. You hear me?" Andy looked him in the eye willing him to take her words to heart.

"She's right you know," Collins walked over after having been given a quick rundown of what happened by Mickey and the HRT shooter. He threw him a clean SWAT tee. "Good work Swarek. The guys said they were impressed enough to loan you this. I know it wasn't easy keeping your cool in this situation. Give me your phone and we'll get by with the recording for now. We rolled up everyone on the premises and made sure no calls went out. So the bus should cross as planned. I have to go now to finish co-ordinating our intercept operation. But you go home with Andy. We've got it covered without you, and your debrief can wait for the morning. Wait 'til you hear what Mickey managed to smuggle out. If Hill lives, he's never seeing the outside of a prison. If I can be un-PC for a minute, that chick is so good it scares me. I'll be lucky if CSIS doesn't snap her up after this."

"Thanks," Sam replied. Collins gave him a brief man hug and slap on the shoulder before walking off to take command of the next phase.

Sam stared after him in shock, "He never does anything like that."

"Well, he doesn't have Superman and Wonder Woman working for him every day," Andy grinned. "You and Mickey were something else." She tilted her head, "You were really able to hold it together and read Anton that well?"

"If I wasn't positive he was going to pull that stunt, I would never have said something hurt you. But I was desperate to at least get you out of here before I tried to play any more mind games with Hill. I'm sorry I had to do that. The words almost stuck in my throat and I couldn't even look at you while saying such a lie."

"It's all right, Sam. It's funny. Now that I see Monica as a much more sympathetic and worthy rival, I'm actually less jealous of her. I really feel for her right now. I hope her family can help her through it," Andy said.

"They're pretty close since her sister passed. So I'm sure they'll insist on taking her away for a while. They've been worried about her obsession too. But it's not too late for her to turn her life in a happier direction. She can do just about anything if she really sets her mind to it. Plus, she has someone new in her life that I'll tell you about later.

Thank you for not having doubts after all you heard today. You're the one who's really something else. I must be the luckiest guy walking the planet. I feel like I dodged about a thousand bullets. I don't think I'm really going to believe you're unscathed until I've made love to you half a dozen times to make sure every part of you is still the way I remember it. This morning seems like a thousand years ago," Sam couldn't even muster the strength to put a twinkle to his eyes. He was still feeling the aftermath of sheer terror running through him.

Andy looked at him just as solemnly. "I need that reassurance too. You think I wasn't terrified of what Anton might have done to you? I didn't even realize you had someone inside backing you up at first. You seemed to be crazy enough to trade yourself for us. This time I knew you wouldn't come without backup, but I thought you were going to be stuck in here waiting for a SWAT team to bust through the doors, probably ending up in the middle of a crossfire. It was like the night of our undercover operation all over again. I kept seeing images of you in a body bag because you had felt you had to keep some promise to come after me instead of leaving it to those who are trained for this kind of thing."

"There was never any question of that. I wasn't about to sit back and let you become collateral damage to my hunt for my white whale," Sam said firmly.

"Well, let's go home and work out our anxieties somewhere more private. I'm exhausted," Andy said, deciding it was useless to argue he'd taken a needless risk.

"I thought you'd never ask," he said with a smile, finally beginning to shake off the after effects of the day's stress.

* * *

As they exited the restaurant, Traci caught sight of them and dropped to her knees on the grassy strip next to the police car. She'd been pacing anxiously ever since Sam went in followed shortly by the HRT guys. Now relief washed over her.

Andy broke away from Sam to give Traci a hand up and wrap her friend in a reassuring hug. "It all turned out fine. No one got hurt but Anton Hill."

"How did we miss him bringing you in?" Traci asked.

"His muscle brought us in through the connecting Sauna Club. It has an entrance from the parking garage down the block that is well camouflaged. You couldn't know where to post a surveillance team even if anyone had expected him to be bringing in hostages," Andy assured her.

Traci looked at Sam and started to apologize again, but he waved her off.

"No need. But Nash, lay off the twitter for a while. Next time you tweet something like that before finding out the whole story, then you'll have an appointment to meet with my vice grips," but Sam's lips twitched ruining his mock scowl.

Andy slapped his arm, "Sam, too soon! Ignore him, Traci. That's just an inside joke. He doesn't mean it."

"Yes I do!" Sam protested with a laugh. "No hard feelings Nash, but I do not want to be on the wrong side of your protective instincts again without good reason. Did she tell you she also took a swing at me and called me a Manwhore?"

Andy choked on a laugh, "No! Really, Trace?"

Traci shot her a sheepish grin, Yeah, 'fraid so. Well, Manslut actually, but same difference."

Andy laughed and shook her head, "I actually kind of wish I'd seen that one. Guess you better not ever cheat on me for real," she elbowed Sam playfully.

"No chance of that! I know a good thing when I've finally got it. I already told Epstein I'm definitely a one-woman man," he smiled and wrapped his arm around her again.

"Thanks again for sticking around, ladies. I'll tell you the whole story soon, but right now I really need to get out of here and spend some quality time with my one and only woman now that I've got her back safe and sound," he waved a farewell to Noelle and Traci as he steered Andy toward his truck.

~~~0~~~

**AN: **To clarify the time line a bit, Monica's sister Melissa died from using some of Mink Barker's bad heroin long before the rash of ODs preceding his murder on the day Andy blew Sam's cover. He never suspected a link between Barker and Melissa, but having seen the damage Monica bore from a sister's OD, he was happy someone took out Barker, and not all that thrilled that Andy caught the kid who did it. Anton caught on to what happened and was going to give him a much more painful death if the kid hadn't gotten to him first. Tragedy all around.

Also just wanted to say I decided to allow Sam to be a hero, but make it a little different from the standard 'man rescues the damsels in distress' resolution to the story. I really liked Mickey in _Would Be Kings_, so I wanted her namesake to get to be the decisive physical badass, while Sam is more mentally tough as part of mixing things up. That balanced my love of Sam with my appreciation of Rookie Blue as a largely female-driven show.


	16. Chapter 16: Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

All things must finally come to an end. I have to admit I'm going to miss working on this one, though. This coda really is to tie up the remaining loose ends and suggest a bridge to what's next for Sam. But this being me, I had to work in a last surprise or two. Enjoy!

**Epilogue**

"So?" Sam asked Collins as he entered the room the next morning.

"Anton Hill is dead. You'll never have to worry about him trying to launch some sort of revenge from prison. But that means we need your written report to really nail everything down. And you'll be in for a long interview because they'll have to look carefully at Mickey's actions. So they'll ask you a hundred ways whether you think Anton was putting Monica's life in imminent danger," Collins gave Sam a significant look. He couldn't coach him any further, and he didn't have to. Sam nodded. He knew exactly what needed to be said, and he wouldn't have to stretch the truth to back Mickey anyway.

"What about the bus?" Sam asked.

Collins broke into a wide smile, "We got them free without any hostage situation, Sammy! Completely blindsided them. You're not gonna believe how much coke they packed aboard that fucking thing. This is by far the biggest single bust in Toronto history. We're still unloading it all.

And those bastards even made every one of those poor girls swallow half a dozen condoms of the stuff as well. Do you believe that shit? As if a lifetime enslaved in a whorehouse wasn't enough, they risked their health to pack that tiny bit more on top of having every square inch of that tour bus loaded with blow. Every inch of the seat cushions, luggage, you name it. I don't know who's worse, Hill or the Zetas. He had built a whole underground area that was basically a dungeon under his so-called Sauna Club to keep them right on site," Collins said with disgust.

"Are you serious? Thank God they didn't slip them through," Sam said.

"Yeah, and we weren't the only ones relieved. We flipped Hill's second in command who didn't like this latest venture, but was in too deep to walk away. We offered the dirt bag immunity and entry to Witness Protection for tipping us to a planned meeting between Hill and two of the Zetas' top guys if we actually succeeded in picking them up. And we got them, Sammy. Hopefully, all this is a big enough loss that they decide it's not worth trying to extend this kind of human trafficking across a second border again."

"That's amazing! How did you keep them from guessing something was up with Anton?" Sam asked, amazed.

"We kept things locked down at the hospital with Monica's help. Then put out the word that Anton's bad drinking and eating habits finally caught up with him on a big, stressful night, leading to a heart attack. We sent the flipped guy and Mickey in to meet with them in his stead. Fortunately, they were nervous enough about still getting paid that they showed. We took them down without a shot being fired. It was a thing of beauty. Mickey was in rare form. I'm putting her up for the force's highest commendation. And you're going to be up for something too," Collins clapped Sam on the shoulder, clearly basking in the success of his two protégés.

"In fact, I want to offer you a slot on a new investigation following up on some other information Mickey managed to dig up. It would be something absolutely on the down low. Not actually authorized by anyone else, as a matter of fact. The small team I'm putting together would have to seem like it's just mopping up loose ends and tracking down any possibility of the Zetas still trying to make a play in Toronto. If you think you might be willing, I'll fill you in further. This is going to be going after some very, very big fish around this city," Collins said, watching Sam's reaction closely.

Sam caught the gravity right away. "I might be very interested. But how would this cover work? I'd be able to live normally, and be assigned as a part of this small team under your direction, then?"

"Exactly. We're going to have to tread carefully while we start building corruption cases against some really big power players. Anton Hill had his tentacles into a whole lot more than we ever dreamed. You'll be working with some white collar crime specialists, but I need someone who knows how Hill's street operation ran. Both for the investigation and for keeping the purpose of what we're doing hidden. After seeing you keep your head yesterday, I think you might be ready for something like this. You'll learn how you build these kinds of cases against those at the top of the food chain. And you won't have to be on the front line of street activity. I'm assuming that would appeal to your need to be involved in major action, while keeping a new relationship together?" Collins raised a brow.

"I didn't think you were all that thrilled about my relationship with Andy. I thought you considered it an obstacle to your mentoring plans," Sam said, confused by Collins' new attitude.

"I think I misjudged her effect on you. She seems to be good for you after all, Sammy. I've never made any attempt to hide the fact that you remind me of myself when I was younger, but I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. I need someone I trust on this team, but I also want you to do it because I'm going to try to help you find a way to do big things without making sacrifices you'll regret later," Collins said, clearly feeling the weight of his own regrets.

"Did yesterday scuttle your chance to patch things up with Julianna?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's not looking great. She's got an Italian temper, and I put her through far too much in the past for her not to think it's a pretty good indication that nothing has changed," Collins said sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but don't give up yet. If she was willing to talk about reconciliation, maybe getting pulled away for something this big won't kill all her hopes for you. As for your taskforce, if you mean it about supporting a personal life, I'm totally in," Sam said, trusting Collins completely as far as skirting rules and exceeding authority went. Sam knew he would only do it if it was necessary and worth the risk.

"OK. Well, as if having a dungeon to house slaves to service run of the mill customers with a thing for jail bait wasn't enough, Mickey recently clued into another secret about Hill's Sauna Club operation. He has a very secret, very exclusive VIP Penthouse floor set up for supposed total discretion and staffed with a handful of East European women who look like super models and are up for any kinky action you can name. Apparently, we must be the only ones who know Hill owns any of the Moscow Sauna Club, let alone runs the exorbitant VIP services. Because all kinds of prominent types were dumb enough to patronize the place. He's got blackmail tapes on most of the people he would need to squeeze to get in on all sorts of sweetheart development deals. So we're going to find out how many projects he's got a hand in through dummy corporations, and how many of them got helped along by jerk wads starring in these secret sex tapes.

He also made tapes in a few of the regular rooms to squeeze cops and Border Patrol agents. Anton's M.O. is to use both sticks and carrots instead of just bribes alone. Mickey says he thinks it's the best protection against last minute attacks of conscience. It's pretty brilliant really, in a twisted mobster way. And I've got a big bonus for you. You'll never guess who one of the dirty cops starring in one of them is," Collins smirked, drawing out the time before telling Sam the best part.

"What, do you want to play twenty questions or something?" Sam finally asked, wondering why Collins looked so smug.

"None other than your girlfriend's 'best buddy' Don Bibby!" Collins grinned.

"Are you kidding me? I knew Andy was right about that prick! How the hell did we miss that he was hooked up to Hill?" Sam muttered.

"I don't know, but it gets better. Ol' Bibby has got a thing for wearing panties and getting spanked by dominant blondes," Collins could hardly finish his sentence before he choked with laughter.

"Screw you, Collins. Why would you fuck with me about something like that?" Sam cut him off, annoyed.

"I shit you not. I'm dead serious. Bibby is literally a little pantywaist perv. The reason Internal Affairs was having trouble tracking down the money is that it wasn't skimmed evidence. Bibby was on Hill's payroll. Even the big bust that made his name was done at Hill's bidding to take out a rival. Classic Hill carrot and stick. The stick was just literal as well as metaphorical in Bibby's case," Collins smirked.

Sam started cracking up, "Seriously? Oh, man. I can't wait to tell McNally about this! She's gonna think she's died and gone to heaven. Steve Peck and his crew still give her and Diaz a hard time every chance they get."

"Yeah, well you can tell McNally I'm doing the two of you another solid. Because Bibby's tape is going to be exhibit A for every internal presentation explaining Hill's methods, every grand jury hearing, and every other occasion I can think to use it. No one is going to have any doubts her instincts were dead on when she reported him up the chain for the beating of that kid who pilfered his dirty money. That little weasel is going to regret selling us out and giving her a bad time, trust me," Collins grinned. "The videos of dirty cops we're letting out of the bag now because it goes straight to how he planned the bus scheme and kept his prior drug and vice rackets running. The rest from the VIP operation we keep close to the vest while we build the corruption cases."

"I'm all in. I'm not sure how much use I'll be making heads or tails of bank accounts and legal documents, but I'll do whatever you want to help run the team who understands them and piece together what exactly he was trying to do to pull off his political power plays," Sam said, starting to get excited about piecing the full story together.

"You'll be plenty useful. And we may even need you to pull Emily back in to help," Collins assured him. After a pause he added, "There's one other thing I'm going to tell only you and Mickey because the two of you earned my trust. No one else on the team needs to know. This you don't share with anyone, not even Andy," Collins waited for him to agree.

"OK," Sam finally agreed.

"Anton had one particularly juicy whale on the hook. None other than right-wing gadfly and former media baron Conrad Black. He's got plenty of legal troubles already, no pre-nup, and a wife who probably knows where all his off-shore bank accounts are. With this last straw, he would be staring down the barrel of a divorce that would put Paul McCartney's to shame. Since the whole story of our bust is something that will be splashed across the front page of many of his former newspapers, I had a little meeting with him this morning and mentioned that we had some more tapes that had 'technical problems' we didn't "think' could be solved. It seems the whole situation touched his philanthropic soul. He's very generously intervened with some politicians with whom he still has pull to get all those kidnapped girls political asylum. He's also donating his family's Bridle Path mansion to be converted into a private boarding school for them, along with getting some of his pals to kick in a nice endowment for its operation."

"You already pulled that off too? Do you ever sleep?" Sam looked at Collins in amazed admiration.

"I'll get to that in a few," Collins said brusquely with a careless shrug.

Sam just shook his head. He knew that he was smart and knew how to play hardball when he wanted, but to have pulled something like this off already… Well, Sam was just blown away. He could see this next assignment was most likely going to turn into one hell of a wild ride. He was really curious just who else Anton Hill had managed to snare in his sex pot trap and what he was able to get from it.

~~~~0~~~~

**AN: **I put a little red herring in earlier chapters by having both Anton and Collins use the phrase _Achilles' heel _in referring to Sam and Andy to plant the seed for some suspicions in those paying close attention that Collins might turn out to be in bed with Hill. I even toyed with the idea of actually writing that kind of betrayal. But at the end of the day, I decided I wanted him to be a kick ass good guy, with his flaws restricted to being too driven and having a fondness for salty language. ;)

He breaks a lot of rules, but for selfless reasons. I just decided I wanted the man who has shaped Sam the most professionally to be solid rather than turning out to be a huge traitor, even if that would have made for major drama.

Having Collins keep at least one sex video in his pocket for leverage to get selfless things is also an homage to a plot from another great cop show, _The Chicago Code_. If you haven't checked it out, it stars Jennifer Beals, who co-starred with Ben Bass in the _And She Laughed_ episode of _The Hunger_.

Note that in real life, people aren't sure how much money Conrad Black still has, so you have to imagine for the purposes here that he managed to hide quite a lot. I thought about making the high profile mark be billionaire Ted Rogers, Jr., the CEO of Rogers Communications. Because who doesn't hate mobile phone and cable companies. But I decided Conrad Black is a better douche bag to have Collins squeeze. And since I don't write for an actual show, I figured I'd take full advantage of not having to worry about using real names. ;)


	17. Post Script

**Post Script:**

Some reviewers pointed out in private messages that last week's episode of the cop show _Blue Bloods_ had a plot that reminded them of the last few chapters of Twitter War.

A South American drug kingpin kidnapped Danny Reagan's (Donnie Wahlberg) wife to keep him from testifying as a murder witness. (The Reagan family being the epitome of the kind of New York "Irish tough" described so well by Tom Wolfe in _Bonfire of the Vanities_, of course it didn't get Danny to back down.)

Anyway, it was very fun to watch that episode just days after I had finished writing this story. As I get ready for another new episode tonight, I couldn't resist adding a short comment. Imaginary cop worlds collide…


End file.
